Going Rogue
by meterion
Summary: Chamo is presented in canon as a pervert who occasionally is a sneaky black-market hustler... so what happens if you switch those traits around? An AU look at a series where the mages don't all fight like it's an episode Wizard Ball Z.
1. Chapter 1

**Going Rogue**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

* * *

Disclaimer: See chapter 3 for disclaimer.

* * *

He just _knew_ that he shouldn't have tried to learn that last spell – Nekane grounded him for a week last time he fell asleep in the Academy's library. How was he supposed to resist; they didn't have a huge library back in their old town! His old town… But he shouldn't be thinking about that right now; he needed to concentrate on not slipping on wet patches of grass.

Just a few moments later, the little red-head running through a grassy field heard a faint voice cry out for help. Or at least, he thought he did. Firmly planting his feet in the earth, he listened quietly as the morning winds rustled the greenery around him.

There! He dashed off to where the voice was coming from; he wondered if someone was hurt, whoever it was sounded pretty panicky. Maybe this would be a good excuse to tell Nekane when she eventually delivered her scolding?

Pushing through a patch of reeds nearly taller than he was, he came across a strange sight: a snow-white weasel stuck in a miniature bear trap. His confusion turned momentarily to shock when the weasel suddenly spoke, "Hey, you aren't a hunter, are you kid?"

"You're a magical weasel!" He blurted out, amazed at encountering his first wild magical beast. He'd read about all sorts in books, but hadn't imagined they came quite so small.

"Common mistake, kid," the little creature said, "I'm an ermine, of noble ermine-elf descent, to be precise. Now, if you're not planning on eating me, could you give me a hand?" It gestured towards the trap with his forepaw.

"Ah, sure!" the boy said, opening the trap with only minimal effort. Why anyone would want to eat a little weasel – ermine, was beyond him. Almost immediately it tried to bound away into the grass, but fell onto its side instead; his newly-freed leg looked rather red and swollen to the boy. "You're hurt, aren't you?"

"Looks like it," the ermine sighed. "Don't know if I can even walk like this, much less get food."

"Hmm… I think I can heal that for you, if you want." The boy said, pulling out a thin stick with a golden star on it. It could not have been a more stereotypical magic wand.

The ermine perked up significantly, "Could you really? You look a little young to be casting spells."

"Sure! Just let me remember the words… _Practe Bigi Nar: May t__he grace of Jupiter be with you__! Cura!_" A soft glow coalesced on the young boys wand as he spoke the incantation, only to diffuse as he tapped it against the ermine's injured leg. Its leg glowed for a moment as well, before the redness vanished, leaving the creature to experimentally step with it.

Turning to the boy, it proclaimed, "Kid, I owe you a big debt. You've saved my life once, maybe twice over today – that's a pretty big thing for the Fae, even if I'm only half." It paused, murmuring to itself for a moment. "I can't repay you right now, but in a few weeks I'll be done with some business in the main town. If you give me your name then I'll be able to find you."

The boy hesitated for a moment; he was always warned not to make deals with fairies – but he had just saved this one's life. And from what little he'd read of life debts, they did take those seriously. "Negi Springfield." He eventually said, cautiously.

The ermine nodded. "Careful, aren't you kid? I like that, good to see in youth these days. The name's Albert Chamomile, at your service. Call me 'Chamo' for short."

"Sure, Chamo!" Negi said, smiling widely.

The ermine looked ready to say something else before his ears perked up. "Sounds like whoever set this trap is coming by; I've gotta run. I'll see you later, kid!"

"It's 'Negi', not 'kid!'" the ermine heard him say as he scampered off into the bushes.

"Springfield, huh?" the white weasel mused to himself, "And that hair… I wonder…"

* * *

It was nearly a whole month later that Negi heard next from his new little friend. Anya was visiting relatives somewhere in Scotland, and the library was closed on Sunday, which meant that Negi was practicing his magic in the grass behind his and Nekane's house. As he completed the incantation for his magic archer spell – which still had yet to do anything besides make a fizzling flash of light – he heard a familiar voice call out, "You won't get anywhere like that, kid."

Turning around, he instantly spied the white tail sticking out amongst the plants. "Chamo, you're back!"

"I told you I'd be back, kid. And like I said, you're not going to improve if you keep practicing like that."

"What? Why?" He said, confused. He'd been training like that for nearly a year, and he'd improved a lot since he started.

"Because that spell's too much for you to control right now. That light you're getting means you've got the power, but you don't have the finesse. Master spells you can control first, and you can learn more taxing ones faster."

"Huh," Negi said, absorbing the new information. "How do you know that? None of the books I read talked about how to learn new spells, only how to use them."

"Well, I do so happen to be a master at my own personal brand of ermine-elf magic!" Chamo declared, standing on his hind legs and puffing out his chest as he did so.

"Can you teach me?" Negi said abruptly, "Like that finding-person spell, can you teach me that?"

Chamo frowned, "I don't think our magic is that compatible, unless… kid, do you have a familiar yet?"

"No, you're supposed to do that after you graduate, normally."

"Well, that settles that!" he said, producing a piece of chalk from… somewhere. "I'll be your familiar, and you can be my apprentice in the Chamo-style magical arts, among other things. C'mon, over to the patio, it's easier to draw up circles on flat surfaces."

"Oh, you mean a magical circle?" Negi asked curiously, as he watched the ermine scamper around the stone, creating perfectly formed hexagrams and scribbling various sigils around the circle's edge. "And what other things are you gonna teach me?"

"Life stuff," he said, "Stuff that every kid should know but doesn't get caught. Alright, now hop inside."

The circle began to faintly light up as he stepped inside, where Chamo had taken out a needle from nowhere again. He pricked his paw, causing a small dot of red to stain his fur. "Alright, now you poke your finger."

Taking the needle, Negi suppressed a wince as he saw a red drop of blood well up from the puncture. "Now what do I do?"

"Press it against my paw. Basically, it promises that I'll help you if you're in trouble, and that you'll do the same for me. There's a lot more to it, but that's the only obligation you have to remember."

The moment their blood mixed together, the light from the circle rose into a blinding flash, before fading away entirely leaving bare stone beneath them.

After a moment of anticipation, Negi complained, "I don't really feel any different."

"Well, as far as beasts go, magical ermine aren't really high on the scale," Chamo said dryly. "If I was a dragon you'd probably get scale armor or fire breath or something." A beat later, he added, "Of course, you'd probably have died of magical exhaustion trying to contract a dragon, so that wouldn't be the best choice."

Negi pouted, given that having dragon breath was obviously worth any risk. "So what do I get from having you as my familiar, then?"

"Basically, the ability to use ermine magic. Sorry, that's about it, kid. You might get some ermine-like traits later on, but you can never be sure with that."

"Ah…" Negi said, nodding his head sagely. "So does that mean I can find someone with their name, now?"

"Sure, as soon as I teach you how to use your magic ermine style. Since they're made for someone with my rather small level of magic reserves, you won't have any trouble learning them."

"Great!" he exclaimed, more excited than ever. "When can we start?"

"Hold on a second there, kid, I've got something to ask you first. You're looking for someone, right? That's why you want to learn my name locating spell so badly." At Negi's surprised nod, he said, "It's the Thousand Master, isn't it?"

"The who?" Negi asked, perplexed.

"You know, kid, the Thousand Master. Man of a thousand spells? Hero of the Great War? Wait…" he mumbled, "Does he not know?"

"Kid," he said, speaking up, "I'm talking about Nagi Springfield."

"What?" Negi gasped, startled, "Did you know my father?"

"So I was right…" he murmured. "Kid, there's not a single mage in all of the worlds who doesn't know your father's name."

As Negi's eyes went as wide as saucers, Chamo bit back another sigh. "Looks like we're going to have a lot to talk about…"

* * *

"Oi, Chamo, who the hell've you been getting your info from? That's the second time this month we caught someone from customs!" complained a hooded figure in a cramped alleyway. Shaking off the traditional magus outfit, a noticeably-taller Negi proceeded to pluck a little white creature out from his hair.

"Sorry 'bout that, kid," the ermine said, "Word is that there's some new management over at the gate, and they've been cracking down on a lot more of us small-time traders. It might be better to keep it to the Old World, for now."

Negi sighed, "And we were so close to being able to get that Elysian artifact, too…" Even at the tender age of nine, Negi had already amassed a startling collection of various magical tools and antiques, which had begun expanding at an even greater rate after Chamo began teaching his various "life skills" to the impressionably young child.

Negi had been skeptical at first about how valuable learning to inscribe magical circles. Even after Chamo described their combat potential, Negi was still reluctant to give up his previous studies of more traditional combat spells. It wasn't until Chamo typed those magic words into Nekane's computer that he finally came around.

The MagiNet. Negi couldn't have ever imagined such a wondrous thing could exist in the world. There was information everywhere! Even the public-access archives were on the level of his first-year textbooks, and the forums that Chamo frequented… well, his burgeoning antiquarian interest turned into a full-time obsession soon afterward.

An obsession which was funded by his growing involvement in the MagiNet's underground markets. It was a quite a shock for Negi, when Chamo revealed exactly how he managed to afford his foreign cigarettes and raw magical materials. Chamo assured him that he refused to deal with the less savory elements of the net, keeping his wares limited to complicated inscribed charms and stored spells and the like; even so, Negi was surprised by how much people were willing to pay for them.

Sometimes it nearly got the both of them caught, like the fiasco they still weren't entirely out of, but it reminded him of the stories he read about of his father. He might not be single-handedly destroying secret evil organizations, but it was still pretty exciting – not to mention good practice for the different spells he'd learnt from Chamo over the past few years.

"_Conceal,"_ Negi softly muttered, thankful ermine magic didn't need long incantations. He stared at his hands as they slowly turned the dull red of the brick behind them. Wrapping his cloak around himself like a blanket, he hunched down in the corner of the alley, becoming almost perfectly invisible in the dim light. Seconds later, he heard several sets of feet catching up to him. He couldn't make out the angry mutters of the people at the entrance of the alley, but he could see the ball of light they sent out to scout around his hiding place.

He quietly sighed in relief when the light retreated and his pursuers continued their search down the magical district of Cardiff. "See?" Chamo said, "Ermine magic is pretty resistant against normal detection spells and the like."

"To which I'm eternally grateful," Negi said, stretching out his back, "But yeah, let's stick to the local buyers for the time being. Most of our stock isn't even considered contraband here. Oh, and we should get back soon; we can't have Nekane calling the academy asking for us, can we? _Mea virga._"

A rustle came from overhead as Negi's staff flew down from where he'd previously hidden it up on the rooftops. "You know what kid, let's get that little artifact of yours; consider it an early graduation present."

"Really?" Negi exclaimed as they lifted off – Chamo was well known for being stingy in his business.

"Sure, sure. You're only down a thousand drachma or so, right? I should help get my little apprentice something for learning the ermine arts so diligently the past years!"

Negi noted in his head he wasn't sure if you could call black market operations an "art," but had to admit that Chamo's magic was all sorts of helpful, and was starting to suspect that he was just starting to make up new spells after Negi had mastered his first four.

"Great, I've been wanting a quality spell ring for a while now!"

"Why do you even want one? You've got your dad's staff, right?"

"Yeah, but it's also big and recognizable; pretty much the opposite of what we want to be when we're trading. Plus, it's rather nerve-wracking to be limited to ermine magic when I'm not with it. Now hold on, we're almost at Nekane's."

"Alright, just drop me off at the ward line, best not let your cousin know we're still talking."

Negi laughed, leaning down into a spiraling descent. "Sis never did like you very much, did she?"

"No, something about 'hanging out with criminal elements' and 'poor influences on a developing boy' and other blather."

"Well… You can't exactly argue with that."

"I don't see you complaining, kid."

"And have I ever?" Negi said, smirking.

"That you have not," Chamo replied, hopping off Negi's shoulder onto the ground. "I'll be gone for the next few months; some problems have been cropping up with my pactio circles, so I'm going around to my bigger buyers to replace them personally."

"But I'll be gone from Wales by then on my journeyman assignment! I know that location spells don't work over long distances. Do you have to go now?"

"Gotta please the customer kid – fifty big ones is nothing to sneeze at, even in ermine dollars. And didn't I tell you? I can use the familiar bond to find you. We'd have to practically be on alternate planes to move beyond range."

"Wow," Negi said – somehow Chamo constantly managed to find new ways to impress him. "Would that work with any magical bond?"

"Oh, sure, if it's strong enough between the caster and the target. Master-apprentice contracts, nearly all blood rites, and of course pactio contracts as well – although probationary contracts wouldn't be as effective." The little weasel looked past Negi at the cottage, before pulling out a small stack of bills from out of thin air. "I think that's Nekane over there, I've gotta go. Here's to hoping you don't get stuck with some boring assignment in the middle of nowhere!"

"Jeez Chamo, you don't have to jinx me _that_ badly. And teach me how to do that sometime, will you?"

Negi heard receding laughter from the bush. "Learn it yourself, kid! An old man needs a few tricks up his sleeve!"

Pocketing the bills, Negi chuckled lightly. "Typical Chamo, dodging border security and still can't deal with Nekane." Although when he thought about it, she did look pretty terrifying when she found out who Negi's "little buddy" was several years back. He still hadn't been able to figure out the spells she used to conjure those thunderclouds…

Keeping his hobbies secret was probably for the best. At least he wouldn't have to worry about her finding out about it anymore. Her or Anya – that girl was way too perceptive for her age. "Hey Nekane!" He called out, waving happily to his older cousin. "You're coming to the ceremony Saturday, right?"

"Of course I am, silly! I'm staying for the whole week so we can all see you off! Now come on in, a growing mage needs their supper, and I made your favorite!"

"Yes!"

* * *

Lexicon Negimarum Falsum

Ermine Magic – Of the innumerable species of magical beasts and creatures that occupy the two known worlds, a select minority of them possess the capability to perform magic of their own. Breeds of dragon ad griffin are known for their effective magical barriers, and naiads, dryads, and other elementally-tuned species naturally can use magic of their own. Of them, elves are one of the greatest non-human practitioners of magic, known, respected, and at times feared for their abilities. As an alleged half-elf, Chamo can utilize those branches of magic still unreachable to mages, and share them with his master.

_Locate_ – In the times where accusations of witchcraft were taken deathly serious, there was a greater awareness of the connection between an individual's spirit and body, and their valued possessions. It was common to burn one's hair and fingernails after cutting them, since something that was once a part of you could be used to fuel evil magics. While not so inherently harmful as "traditional" witchcraft, utilizing any object connected to a person to determine their location is a sympathetic magic Negi was understandably eager to learn.

_Conceal_ – "Out of sight, out of mind." While changing the color of skin and clothing may not be the flashiest magic, it is nonetheless effective against targets not possessing considerable magical awareness. Adding an inherent resistance against basic forms of magic detection only makes it a more effective tool, though naturally it is most effective in dark conditions, and is almost completely shattered by quick movements on the part of the caster.

* * *

**A/N:** Yes, there is a new story, and its name is indeed terrible! Updates every... 5 days? For several more chapters, at the least. I'll get a beta for this story soon, so please excuse the inevitable spelling/grammar errors. Now for the fun parts: I always found it rather strange how Chamo supposedly had a life-debt towards Negi when he was five or six at most, yet we see almost none of his influence on him.

Negi just seems entirely too naive for having an enormously perverted and generally street-smart familiar. And the lexicon was honestly one of the best parts of Negima, which is why it's being continued here. If that's not your thing, there won't be anything too plot-relevant in there, just explorations of spells and techniques that would be difficult to include in-story. Till later.


	2. Chapter 2

**Going Rogue**

**Chapter 2**

* * *

Disclaimer: Please see chapter 5 for the disclaimer.

* * *

A very disgruntled ten year old was sitting in a cushioned seat approximately ten thousand feet above sea level. Reading through an old tome which would have resembled a typical Player's Handbook to the average observer, he quietly muttered about "getting absurd assignments" and being "too well-known for his own good."

Negi didn't believe for a moment that being chosen to teach English in Japan in one of the biggest magical presences in the country was a coincidence, particularly when the Meridiana headmaster said the principal over there was an old friend of his. More likely he was being shipped off in exchange for a few favors, being the son of one of a famous mage and all. A mage who could apparently destroy entire forests with one spell – he still shivered whenever he recalled the footage Chamo had dug up for him of the Great War. How his father had ever become so powerful he had no idea, but he still hoped one day to find out.

At least the job sounded like it didn't sound like it would be boring. One of the first pieces of information he found about Mahora Academy was its library, which was noted in several articles for its expansive collection. Some forums even claimed that it was one of the largest in the world, though he'd expect there to be more articles on it if that were true. Or maybe that just meant that the Academy's electronic security was well-maintained, which hopefully wouldn't pose a problem in his business.

Luckily he had been refining a lot of his space compression seals since he knew he would be leaving – all of his possessions, magical and otherwise, were currently sealed into a small box of his briefcase. Unfortunately, he hadn't anticipated just how long the international flight to Japan was, having already spent the last hour or two silently practicing the Japanese he'd been learning the past week. He was itching to activate the release where he knew the rest of his books were waiting; unfortunately, he hadn't thought to compartmentalize them during the seal, and the small library of books packed away would likely cause his bag to explode if opened inside of it.

A small eternity later, Negi finally tottered out of the plane and into a taxi, occasionally casting revitalization spells to keep him from falling asleep before checking into a hotel downtown and promptly passing out.

All too soon, Negi found himself hopping trains to slowly make his way to the Academy, which he learned was practically a small city unto itself. He probably would have gotten lost several times over, had one of his contacts online not been so helpful in providing directions to the school.

It was really quite lucky that one of his biggest buyers of prepared magical circles – even teleportation spells when he had the time and materials to create them – lived within the Mahora campus. She had even agreed to meet him and show him to the administration offices – for a discount on her next purchase. She had a bargaining sense as well-honed as his and Chamo's, it seemed. This "M. T." had bought enough from him to make it well-worth it in the end, he figured. She might even up her orders now that he would be able to practically drop them off.

As he rode the Mahora line, stoically enduring the interested stares and comments of countless teenage girls around him, he suppressed another sneeze. Something in the air was giving him allergies, something he hadn't anticipated. He had never been able to figure out why his wind magic went berserk when he sneezed; Chamo had adamantly refused to help him get rid of what he considered a "gift to all of mankind." He supposed it counted as a possible secret weapon, though not one he had any sort of control over.

He burrowed his face into the crook of his elbow, muffling another sneeze. Thankfully, it was suppressed enough to only cause a sudden breeze through the compartment, confusing the passengers until the doors opened. Negi tried very hard not to think about what could have happened in such an enclosed space, and hoped desperately that he would feel better after the winter air had passed. Then again, with March came the blossoming of so many unfamiliar flowers… so maybe not.

Finally stepping out onto the platform, the scene unfolding before Negi could only be described as "utter pandemonium." People everywhere were rushing towards the central academy, whether on foot, skates, trolleys, and nearly every other form of transportation. Over the background noise of hundreds of simultaneous conversations, a loudspeaker droned that there were ten minutes to opening bell.

And now he had to find a food truck in the midst of all this madness. Was the academy this busy every morning, or did M.T. choose this area to meet just to screw with him? Probably a little of both, now that he thought about it. She did complain those few times that he offered an "absurdly low bulk discount", after all.

He quickly decided to start moving himself, lest he be overrun by the crowd. Silently invoking wind magic to pull ahead of the mass of students, the noise level dropped until he thought he heard a familiar name said by a girl in front of him. Interested, he focused on the two, until he realized they were talking about that person in the context of some absurd love-line horoscopes.

He sighed, muttering lowly, "Oh, just another Takahata fan…" Looked like he had another set of fan-girls on the mundane side of the world, too.

Negi was caught completely off guard when the red-haired girl whirled around, spying the boy and grabbing him by the collar, "What was that?" she yelled, "What'd you just say, brat?!"

Oh crap, that girl had sharp hearing – he probably should have said that in English. "Umm, umm…" he stammered, trying desperately to think of something in the language he had just learned, only to find possibly the worst thing to say. "I thought you were talking about unrequited love! From your horoscope, that's all!"

"WHAT!" The furious redhead now shrieked, ignoring placations from her black-haired friend, visibly lifting up the boy-mage into the air. "Where do you think you get off saying that!"

God, it was only his first day and he was already going to die. He desperately craned his head about, not wanting to use magic to restrain the possibly homicidal girl. His eyes widened in relief when he saw they had stopped just several feet away from a packed food cart.

He desperately called out, "T.M.! Are you there, I could use a bit of help right now!"

Moments later, an amused voice said from right behind him, "I'll be adding bodyguard charges to the escort services, then. What do you think you're doing, Kagurazaka-san?"

Whoever it was surprised the girl (Kagurazaka, he presumed) to lose her grasp on Negi, who immediately scooted behind his savior, a tall dark-skinned girl in their same uniform. "Ah, Tatsumiya-san! I was, ah… This little shrimp said something rude to me!"

The other girl merely cocked an eyebrow, "So you decided to physically threaten him? Excuse me if I say that seems… excessive." Turning from the flushing girl trying to stammer out why exactly she was threatening a little kid to regard her surprisingly young supplier, she said, "N.S., right? You need to be more careful. Whatever your business is here, getting into fights with the students probably isn't a part of it."

Negi finished adjusting his tie, finally having regained his composure from the unexpected assault. "Thanks for the advice!" he said in a cheery voice, "I didn't know how violent some of the girls here are towards children!" He noted with satisfaction the flinch from this Kagurazaka girl, and continued on, "Thanks for the save… Tatsumiya-san, was it?"

"Tatsumiya Mana." She said by way of greeting, extending her hand.

Negi. Nice to meet you!" He returned, palming a small space compression sutra as he did so, one of her most frequent purchases.

"I think we'll get along just fine, Springfield-san." She said with a professional smile, slipping her hand back in her pocket.

The impetuous girl took that opportunity to resume her interrogation, albeit with a less ear-breaking volume. "So what did you mean exactly, 'another Takahata fan,' huh? How exactly do you know Takahata-sensei?"

Negi-kun and I are old friends, Asuna-kun." A new figure said, walking up to the scene. "Good morning, Konoka-kun, Tatsumiya-san."

"Good morning!" The two replied, before Tatsumiya walked away with a wave. "I'm getting to class. See you around, Springfield-san."

"Ah, bye Tatsumiya-san!" he called, before turning towards Takahata with a grin. "So how've you been, Takamichi, it's been a while!"

"So it has. Has Japan been treating you well Negi-kun – or should I say, Negi-sensei?"

While both Kagurazaka and her friend Konoe both confusedly said, "Sensei?" Negi replied,

"Well I didn't get lost for what it's worth. Do you know who I'm going to be teaching? The letter I got was lacking in details."

"Oh, of course! As of today you'll be taking over my position teaching class 2-A; these three girls are all a part of, in fact."

Looked like his hope that he'd never have to see that redhead again was to be in vain. Judging from the throbbing vein on her forehead, he was regretting that line about violent girls – he was hoping she didn't go and prove him right. "Is that so?" Negi said, an almost too-happy smile plastered on his face. "Allow me to introduce myself, then: my name is Negi Springfield, and like Takamichi said, it looks like I'll be teaching you two English this year. Pleased to meet you!"

After her initial shock, the black-haired girl replied "I'm Konoe Konoka, nice to meet you too! And this one over here is Asuna," nudging the girl next to her, who seemed to still be processing what Takamichi had said.

"But… But… How can this little _kid_ be a teacher?" Asuna exclaimed.

"Oh, I can assure you Negi-sensei has more than enough qualifications to teach any class he wants, Asuna-kun. You all need to see the headmaster, correct? I'll show you the way."

"Great!" Negi said, eager to put whatever distance he could between him and that bell-wearing psycho, who was looking ready to strangle him again. "So how's life in Japan been Takamichi?"

"Well…"

* * *

Before long Negi, Asuna, and Konoka were all standing in the headmaster's office, as he finished explaining to the young mage his job as a teacher, only vaguely referring to his journeyman assignment with other people present. "So, Negi-sensei, do you think you'll be able to handle it?"

"Naturally." He said, sounding confident even feeling the older mages powerful presence. Luckily, he was quite used to negotiating with people far more powerful than himself. "All I need is the way to classroom."

"A confident attitude!" The headmaster said approvingly, "Good, you'll need it for this class. Shizuna-sensei will show you to the room and the necessary materials." As they began to walk out, he added, "Oh, and would you two mind letting Negi-sensei room with you for a bit? We haven't found him a place to stay yet."

"What? No!" Asuna protested, pointing an accusing finger at the somewhat nervous boy, "You can't expect us to live with our teacher! A ten year old one, at that!"

Unfortunately for her, the headmaster chose to reply to Konoka's somewhat quieter "That's fine, grandpa!", saying,

"Wonderful! Be nice to each other, alright? Good luck with your first class Negi-sensei."

Seeing they were dismissed, Asuna sped out of the door and to the classroom, pointedly ignoring her new teacher.

"It's okay, Negi-sensei," Konoka said, patting his shoulder. "Asuna's a little rough around the edges, but she's a good person."

"I certainly wouldn't be a good teacher if I wrote her off from just our first meeting." Negi agreed, getting a smile from Konoka. "Tell me though: is there anyone else in your class as… 'rough,' as Asuna?"

Konoka at least had the decency to look away. "They're not _all_ as bad." Well, at least now he knew not to have any expectations regarding the sanity of his students.

Shizuna was waiting down the hall, pointing the way to Negi's classroom as he accepted the class roster with a quick word of thanks. Pausing before the door, he took a deep breath before resolving himself to enter the classroom. If he was going to do this, he would do it perfectly.

Immediately upon opening the door he felt a warning from above his wind barrier, instinctively jumping to the side like Chamo had drilled into him if he was ambushed during a job, using a small burst of magic to divert the projectile's course. Even as he did so, he felt his foot snag around an expertly-placed trip wire, and instead fell forward into a roll, feeling his foot kick away even more another falling objects.

He sprang up from behind the teacher's desk, his ringed hand extended forward to chant light-elemental fury on his assailants, before he reminded himself that he was in a class full of (relatively?) normal teenage girls. Who at the moment were staring at him like he'd just shown them magic was real. Which, looking now at the trail of destruction behind him including a narrowly-evaded chalkboard eraser, pail of water, and half-dozen rubber darts, he supposed he had, however subtle it was.

"Well, that was an interesting way of welcoming your new teacher," he said anticlimactically, adjusting his glasses after he assured himself he wasn't in any mortal danger. He _had _guessed right, his class was full of loonies. Pretty strategic ones, too, going from the placement of the numerous traps. Seconds of dead silence later, all semblance of order was lost in class 2-A.

Cries of "How CUTE!" and "Whoa, that was cool!" intermingled with the saner, yet even louder questions of, "Are you really our teacher?!" and were ultimately drowned out by rapid-fire questioning thrown out by the girls crowding around Negi.

"You're a foreigner, right? Where are you from?" Asked a girl with pinned-up red hair.

"Oh, where are you living now?" Asked another.

"Hey, are you super-smart or something?" Asked one with long, purple hair.

As they started to swamp Negi, he felt several strands of someone's hair brush against his nose, already sensitive from earlier in the morning. He tried his best to contain it, but he let out a loud sneeze nonetheless. He felt his magic act instinctively, and tried to at least contain the worst of it.

So instead of a magical wind that would have left every girl in the room in their underwear, there was instead only a massive updraft that blew their skirts up and sent papers flying everywhere. The class let out a collective shriek, and Negi took the opportunity to push his way out of the mass of girls – directly into Asuna's waiting arms.

Again she grabbed at his collar before pulling him up against a desk. "Hey, what'd you do to the eraser back there? It was falling, and then it flew away! What the hell was that?"

Damn that girl was perceptive, she was worse than Anya! Negi realized this could be a pivotal moment for his job; he was already years younger than his students, and that trap setup, even if it didn't work, still kept him from establishing any semblance of authority when he entered the room.

He read in one of his guides that the key to a successful classroom was an effective first impression – well, he decided that he'd just have to go with an even more memorable second impression. Using a bit of magic to strengthen his voice in front of the growing crowd of interested spectators, he intoned coldly,

"Get your hands off of me, Kagurazaka."

The girl in front of him actually recoiled, nearly dropping him to the floor had he not landed properly, and made most of the class flinch regardless. Perhaps he had overdone it? He'd have to press on, regardless. "I'm not sure what they teach at school here, but assaulting anyone, much less a teacher, is well against school policy. All of you, back to your seats!" he said, lastly addressing the somewhat shell-shocked girls.

He quickly strode back to the desk, although most of the girls had yet to move from where they had frozen. "My name is Negi Springfield, and I am currently a temporary teacher assigned to class 2-A until the end of academic year. It is my hope, however, that I continue to teach you all English as a full-time professor the year after that!

"While I understand that 2-A is a rowdy bunch – and of course I can sympathize with that – I will still expect you all to learn while you're in my class. Do you all understand that?"

Seconds later, around half the class managed an uncertain "Yes!", and one loud whisper of "damn, he really _is_ a teacher" which went ignored by the small teacher.

"Excellent!" Negi said, clapping his hands together. He saw Shizuna give a thumbs up to him from outside the door, and was relieved to know he handled the situation well. "Now, to answer your questions: the last place I lived was a small village in Wales, and yes, that makes me British." Deciding to handle his somewhat awkward sleeping arrangement, he continued, "As for where I'm staying now, I'm living in with the Headmaster's family as a guest until a more permanent place can be found." Not the entire truth, but not a lie either. He saw Asuna send him another scowl his way at that line.

A student in the front row raised her hand eagerly when he finished, gracefully getting up from her chair at Negi's nod. "And is it true that you are a genius who graduated from Oxford at the tender of age ten?" The long-haired blonde asked.

"Yes, that's correct… Yukihiro Ayaka, is it?" He said, glancing down at his roster. "I'm impressed! Already people have researched me."

The class went silent again when Asuna muttered loudly, "Of course class rep would find out everything she could about her new shota-bait."

A vein in Ayaka's forehead was starting to twitch in quite an interesting pattern. "Like you can talk, you monkey! Obsessing over a sensei twice your age!"

"Shut up! Takahata-sensei's special!" She yelled back, as they started to stalk towards each other.

"Yeah, and he's also a teacher! At least _I'm_ not going to get anyone arrested!"

"That's it!" Asuna shrieked, grabbing at Ayaka's hair as they both tumbled to the center of a ring of excited students already calling out bets on the fight. Negi just stared at the scene becoming a bit too surreal, even for him.

He turned to Shizuna, who was walking in the room. "Does this happen often?" he asked, unsure how he should break up the two tussling girls.

"It's a recurring event," Shizuna admitted. "Every week, at least. Takahata-sensei recommends letting them vent for a bit, but stopping them before they get overly violent."

This was them _not_ being "overly violent?" Negi watched on for future reference as she went up to the girls and clapped several times to get most of the class's attention. "Alright girls, wrap it up, wrap it up!" she declared loudly, much to their collective disappointment. "Class has started, back to your seats." She glanced over to Negi, "They're better behaved once they have their fill of excitement."

"I see," he said, beginning to liken class 2-A to a room full puppies: they had burn off excess energy before they could focus. "Well then, we'll start where Takahata-sensei left off last week; open your books to page 159."

Around halfway through the lesson, however, Negi realized he would have to change his assessment of the class; after all, most puppies didn't try to bean you on the head with erasers, after all. It was pure luck that he managed to avoid the first one – he tried to suppress a flinch hearing a small crack resound above his head as had bent his head down to consult a passage in a book.

He slowly raised his head, scanning the class with a deadpan look on his face. For their part, they managed to mimic his stoicism well, however fidgety some of them were. Asuna, interestingly, seemed to be engrossed in her book for the book for the first time the entire period. Was she seriously trying to test out his wind barrier? What was this girl; most _mages_ would have trouble enhancing her senses to the level she seemed to naturally have!

"Now to describe yourself in the present tense, the phrase you would use is 'I am…'" Continuing the lesson, Negi made some minute adjustments to his barrier before turning his back on his students – well, Asuna.

Increasing a wind barrier's effective range severely compromised its ability to stop and divert projectiles without an exponential increase in magic usage, which was why all barrier arrays in general were as close to their caster as possible. But when you did increase its range as he did now – a full five meters was what he could manage – its actual function went from a "shield system" to a "radar system."

It was, in Chamo's words, "a great way to kill yourself if you were a traditional mage," since most mages lacked the agility to dodge even what they knew was coming to hit them. In this case, it let Negi casually lean out of the way of incoming projectiles with his back turned.

Negi began to worry a bit more when the objects clattering to the floor around him went from eraser bits to pen cartridges, to whole, sharpened pencils. Had he turned around, he would have seen the entirety of the class struggling to keep a straight face – even Tatsumiya Mana had cupped a hand over her mouth after watching the redhead's mounting frustration.

But when he suddenly sensed over a dozen projectiles suddenly homing in on him, he wasn't able to suppress the instinct to duck under his desk for cover. The only sound for a moment was the rapid-fire thunk as several pencils embedded themselves into the blackboard, which was immediately followed by an outraged voice crying, "Okay, that's _it,_ you violent monkey!"

Popping up from his makeshift cover, Negi was greeted by the familiar sight of Asuna cat-fighting it out with Ayaka. He tried to get the class back under control, he really did – but before he knew it, the bell had already rung for the next class, several of his students giving him apologetic smiles on the way out.

After experiencing firsthand the way teenage girls could switch moods on a dime while talking to Takahata and Asuna outside the door, Negi decided he needed some fresh air. And some new shirts, given how often his collar was being yanked around by that girl.

He sighed, sitting down on a stone bench in the huge campus. He really didn't want to use that compelling voice technique – regardless of how useful it was, anything that came close to mind control arts left a bad taste in his mouth. He'd just have to earn his class's respect the old-fashioned way; Takamichi had a handle on them, and Negi knew for a fact he couldn't have used any spells to help that along. Then again, he also had the advantage of being older than the students he was teaching…

Seeing a vaguely familiar girl walking down a nearby stone staircase laden with books, he pulled out his roster to consult. "Miyazaki… Nodoka?" He said to himself, "In the 'library exploration club,' whatever that is; pretty dangerous to walk around with a stack that high."

And no later than he had spoken, the blue-haired girl seemed to slip on the edge of a step, sending her tumbling over the edge of the stairs with a startled cry. "Oh, damn it." He muttered, cursing himself for jinxing it. He jumped up from his seat while bringing his staff forward, making a sweeping gesture to manipulate the wind from below the falling girl.

Closing the distance rapidly between them while keeping his partially unwrapped staff trained on the now gently descending student, Negi slid underneath her, releasing the protective spell while she was just a foot off the ground. He breathed a small sigh of relief, not sure what he should do now with Miyazaki – who looked to have fainted sometime during her fall.

That relief quickly faded when he heard another crashing sound from above him, seeing even more books fall to the ground. And above them, two more very familiar-looking girls. Girls whose jaws were currently trailing the ground behind them.

"Negi-sensei, you're… you're a, you're a _wizard!_"

* * *

Lexicon Negimarum Falsum

Wind Radar – Because the wind and other certain elements have a relatively low mana cost to manipulate – it being considered as more of a "concept" than an "object", such as water or earth – it is well-suited for a variety of barrier manipulations. Causing projectiles to be repelled or minimally deflected, variations in activation range, and of course the overall range of the barrier can all be changed, provided the caster is familiar enough with the expansive theory behind the spell.

Voice Compulsion – A mage's magical power can be applied in almost unlimited variety of ways, limited only by fine control over their own magical power. Enhancing limbs can bring unnatural strength and endurance, the eyes can confer perfect, even inhuman vision. Using magical power applied to the throat and then the sound of one's voice can both increase its volume and ability to command others. Other mages could easily resist such power, but to a bystander unaware of these mental effects the caster looks to exhibit fantastic authority and charisma.

* * *

**A/N:** And here we go, chapter two! My original concept was to start really diverging from the canon timeline at Mahorafest... and then I realized that was a very, very long time away. And also that there's no need to try to make this a perfect retelling of the original storyline with one personality change. So while this story will follow the same arcs (up to a pre-determined point), the Negi of this story is going to be doing his own thing for the most part.

So if you've noticed this story's mostly been "X happens to Negi and it turns out differently"... well, that'll change in a bit.

Well then, until later! And by "later", I of course mean five days!


	3. Chapter 3

**Going Rogue**

**Chapter 3**

* * *

Disclaimer: All disclaimers can be found on chapter 2.

* * *

Negi literally froze in place hearing the shouted accusation cut through the still air, an unconscious Miyazaki still resting mostly on top of him. Well, the jig was up. Less than twenty-four hours… that was probably a new record for an apprentice mage to expose the world to magic. Maybe they'd give him a medal when he was exiled to Mundus Magicus. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he barely even reacted when he was lifted up from underneath his arms.

"Holy crap that was cool! Can you do it again? Wait no, what else can you do? What kind of mysterious wizard power was that, Negi-sensei?"

"I'm not a mage, I'm not a mage…" he muttered repeatedly, still slowly transitioning into a more functional state of mind after his overpoweringly grim predictions of the future.

A new, calmer voice spoke up, "While I'd normally be reluctant to allow a single instance of personal observation overturn a precedent millennia-old, I think it's quite clear to all of us that you just broke the laws of physics."

Negi's turbulent thoughts finally settled on one course of action: damage control. He just had to make sure the Mage Association didn't find out about what he was going to do. Quickly placing names to their faces, he said: "Saotome-san, Ayase-san; you two are the only ones that, ah, saw me, correct?"

At their respective energetic and stoic nods, he continued, "I suppose that's a small silver lining. Let's see, how should I start – I don't suppose the two of you could keep a little secret?" The immediate response from the taller girl was a squeal which could have drowned out the Christmas cheers of kids across the country, which Negi took to mean 'yes.'

"Perhaps we should move to where we aren't as likely to be overheard?" Ayase asked, pointing to a copse of trees on the edge of a courtyard.

"I think that would be best." Negi said, picking up Miyazaki easily with the help of his magic. He didn't like the faraway look the black-haired girl had adopted, silently mouthing something.

Just inside the shaded tree line, the child-teacher gently propped her against a large trunk before turning to his two students, each carrying a fair-sized stack of the girl's books. "So you three are pretty heavy readers, then?"

"Library Exploration Club, fully certified." They said in eerie synchronicity, flashing an ID card at him. "I've been prepared for this moment since the day I read H⃝rry P⃝tter!" Saotome declared proudly.

Well, he supposed that kind of response was to be expected from members of the "Library Club" – which, thinking about the size of the library in Mahora, would be pretty well-versed in situations like these.

"Alright, that makes things simpler. So you know that in those kinds of stories, there's usually a reason why you don't go around telling the world about… that secret? That rule applies here, double."

"Wait wait wait… Are you telling me there's a whole magical _society_ hidden within ours?!"

"That's the gist of it."

"Oh… my god!" Saotome breathed, eyes wild. "We've gotta do something!"

The smaller purple-haired girl grabbed her arm before she could rush off, having pulled out a juice box from her bag during their talking. "Haruna, did you hear what he just said? That they probably have a system to prevent you just thought of doing?"

Negi nodded, relaxing a bit now that he wasn't going to have to chase after his hysterical student. "Yes, we do. It's not foolproof by any means, but areas like Mahora are monitored pretty heavily, or so I presume. Moreover…"

He trailed off, hearing a new source of noise of behind him. All three looked around, only to see Miyazaki moving somewhat unsteadily up on her feet, eyes wide with shock – she must have woken up when they weren't paying attention. "Negi-sensei is a… wizard? And Yue, and Paru… know about it?" Negi could practically see the tide of information wash over her as she continued to ramble. "You're… all wizards? But…"

Negi sprang into action yet again when he saw her eyes finally glaze over, closely followed by her two other friends. He caught her before she could completely hit the ground, one arm supporting her head. But before he could even breathe a sigh of relief, he heard another rustle coming from the trees beyond.

"Negi-kun, that you? Thought I heard you… oh. Oh dear." A rather concerned-looking Takahata-sensei emerged into the small clearing, sending a questioning look at the young mage. A mage who realized that holding his unconscious student in his arms in a very secluded area was a situation that could be interpreted in an amazing variety of ways, many of which Chamo tried to expound upon in great detail.

"O-oh god, wait Takamichi! It's not what it looks like!"

* * *

After becoming rather uncharacteristically flustered in his attempts to explain himself away, only to be saved by Ayase's impeccable straight face, the four of them made their way back to the classroom, having said there was something he needed to see. After clarifying to a less-delirious Miyazaki that only one of them was an actual wizard, Negi thought himself lucky that they didn't press him for any more than the bare facts of his world – saying he'd need a whiteboard, at least four different colors of marker, and an entire day to properly explain everything did wonders for curbing their immediate curiosity. They, or at least Saotome, seemed to have the average non-existent attention span of teenagers. And, at Yue's emphatic recommendation, Negi reluctantly put a contract of silence on the dark-haired girl, preventing her from mentioning her new knowledge of magic to anyone other than the three of them. He silently agreed that it was a far better option than wiping her memories, something he still really wasn't entirely comfortable going along with.

The small-talk they made on the way back to the school was surprisingly normal, though he could tell Saotome was practically bursting at the seams to fire away questions about magic. Even Miyazaki, who was more often than not hiding behind Saotome's larger figure, added some remarks. At Ayase's quiet insistence, she was volunteered to give Negi a tour of Library Island, where she assured they wouldn't be overheard talking about anything. So when the doors to the classroom were suddenly thrown open to the cheer of several dozen girls, Negi was understandably startled.

"Welcome, Negi-sensei!"

It seemed like nearly everyone from class was there – even seeing Tatsumiya giving him a smile from the corner, though it didn't reach her eyes. The cheers soon turned to playful accusations when everyone saw just whom he had arrived with, feigning outrage that "The Book Club is already claiming territory!" Well, he was pretty sure most of them were faking it; the class rep seemed pretty caught up in it for some reason. He did appreciate the bust she had apparently spent the afternoon chiseling, though he wasn't entirely sure where he was going to put it.

"Hey, Negi-kun! Tired from your first day of teaching?"

To his credit, Negi managed to only flinch internally at the sound of Takahata's voice. "Pretty sore, yeah. I don't know how you managed to handle them day in, day out for so long."

He gave a small smile, "Don't worry, they'll grow on you. Ah, so is Miyazaki-san feeling better?"

"Y-yes, it was just a bit of dehydration after all." He said, repeating Ayase's excuse and silently cursing himself for not being able to say it more convincingly.

"Well then, I'll leave you to your students, then. Don't forget to mingle!"

Negi eagerly nodded, only able to take a few steps before running into more of his students eager to talk. He was prepared for the pace of their conversation this time, however, even able to keep up with his other red-haired student's questioning. Luckily, that only lasted for a few minutes before she said she had enough material, retracting her recorder and waving goodbye out the classroom. From there, he seemed to be almost pulled around the room; breaking up yet another fight involving his new roommate, accepting a book certificate from Miyazaki to more catcalls from the surrounding students, to finally having a surprisingly relaxing chat with a tall green-haired girl and her near-silent companion.

Before he knew it, everyone was already packing up and heading out, some of the more mischievous ones ruffling his hair despite his (admittedly ineffective) glares. He was surprised to note that it still wasn't too late in the day, and headed back to his new room to get settled.

* * *

A cup of tea really hit the spot after an unimaginably long day, Negi decided. He was rather impressed with the dormitories here at Mahora – he knew for a fact in Wales that individual rooms didn't have a mini-kitchen and bath combo. After nearly getting assaulted by one of his students, fawned over by half the others – rather inappropriately, in his gentlemanly opinion – and full-out blowing the entire masquerade to three others, he thought he was entitled to drink Earl Grey until his stomach burst.

Emitting a pleased sigh as he drained his cup and set it on the counter of his new room, he went about unpacking some of his knick-knacks. Konoka mentioned to him in passing at the party that she had cleared a space above the study for a small futon, giving him a spare key before going back off to Asuna, who seemed to be quite content in staring at Takamichi from across the room. Her unflappable cheerfulness was really becoming a breath of fresh air after the continuous chaos that he seemed to leave in his wake.

He decided to wait on unloading some of his antiques; many of them would looked too, well, magical to leave lying around where that red-head's preternatural senses could find them. Instead, he decided to pull out one of his more important possessions from sealing, something that would have been as far away from the image of a wizard he thought you could get: a laptop.

Sure, putting scrolls on owls and sending messages through elemental conduits was fun and all, but nowadays if you needed to get in touch with a fellow practitioner it was much easier to just shoot them an e-mail. Of course, much of the older generations weren't too keen to jump on the magi-tech train, but he supposed it was the same way for mundane society.

Luckily, the entirety of the campus was in range of a MagiNet port – or the MahouNet, as it was called here. He still was a little blank on the mechanics of how it worked, but in layman's terms: any computer tagged by a certain class of electron sprite gave it the capacity to connect to a MagiNet port, which was essentially just another network that communicated with magical, rather than electromagnetic, energy.

Of course, one of the first things Chamo had him do was service his laptop with a technically-illegal tag, allowing for anonymous access for his business. Checking his "work" account, as he liked to call it, he pleasantly hummed as he scrolled through a small list of commissions.

Over the years, "Thousand_Tagger" had slowly grown in notoriety in several online circles, to the point where he no longer had to actively seek out projects to complete. And with it, so grew his somewhat shamed regret for thinking that would be such a cool name at the tender age of six. At least it described his specialty pretty well.

Sending confirmations to several of the smaller jobs, with a small note indicating there would be a slight delay in delivery, he set up shop in the desk beneath his bed.

To any normal person, it would look like a somewhat quirky calligraphy set; to any well-versed mage, it was a nearly professional-grade inscription kit. Inscription was, in Negi's disappointed opinion, a slowly fading art. Sure, creating magical charms, tags, and seals wasn't the most exciting avenue of study, but damned if it wasn't the one of the most versatile and useful. Your only limits on what you could do with it were limited to your knowledge of its theory and magical power, which made it a complete godsend to somewhat like him. Still, it was a skill that took a long time to master, and he was still just barely becoming adept at it – not that it mattered much to his clients, as inscribers were few and far between nowadays.

He began to fall into a very well-practiced routine as he began one of the simpler jobs: a small stored spell with a camouflaging illusion. First: prepare the tag, making sure the small slip of paper was free of marks and deformities. Then prepare the inscription surface, which was usually a simple wooden board for his projects.

Next came the cornerstone of nearly all inscription magic: the transfer link. While the publicized image of inscription known even to the public usually consisted of entire rooms filled with interlocking, mandalesque circles with arcane designs – and those certainly were useful for larger rituals – that style of inscription was completely unsuited for combat, or really in any situation where you couldn't spend half an hour drawing on the floor with chalk.

To remedy this, the transfer link was developed: a method of linking the inscription surface with another object, compressing enormously complex designs into small areas with relatively slight loss of power output. It was said that with the necessary materials, it would be possible to add inscriptions to virtually any surface possible, though Negi mainly kept himself to his small parchment.

It was a slow process, crafting a trigger to respond to magical energy, linking it to the main circle, and creating containment and preservation runes along its border. Every stroke had to be precise, every smudge dutifully erased. Finally, it was time for the last part of this tag: imbuing the spell into it. It felt rather strange to use a spell, only to have its power sucked up into the board before him, the entire array momentarily glowing white; like delaying a spell, only to have it slowly fizzle out before it could activate.

After nearly an hour, he created the requested three charms, finishing each by placing his palm to the inscription and the tag, and allowing the runes to be pulled up into his hand before slowly filtering out the other, filling the small paper with a highly compressed spell-tag.

And it wasn't a moment too soon; just as he finished putting away his materials his two students walked in, even Asuna greeting him reluctantly before going to shower.

"So, Negi-kun," Konoka asked, "how do you like it here in Japan?"

"It's a lot different than what I expected, but it's very nice!" he said. "There's so many different people and places, and that food a few hours ago was fantastic!"

"Sat-chan does make the best meat buns." She agreed, noticing that the child-teacher couldn't quite hold back a yawn. "Oh, I'm sorry! It must've been such a long day for you, you just flew here, didn't you?"

"Just last night, actually. I figured it would've been too tough trying to tough out an international flight and teaching class on the same day."

"Well, you've got your futon set up already, right?"

He nodded, giving up entirely on concealing how tired he was becoming.

"Alright, go on up then. I'll let Asuna know not to make too much noise.

"Thanks…" he murmured, ascending the small ladder. Maybe it wasn't going to be so bad here, after all.

* * *

A single bridge was the sole connection between the Mahora Main Library and the rest of campus. It was speculated among the school's historical clubs that during the building's initial creation, the difficulty of accessing it was put in place prevent theft of the many tomes housed there. As they walked that lone strip of land above the placid lake, three young students told the story of Library Island from its foundation as a literary archive, its quick integration into the burgeoning Mahora Academy, and its rapid and almost continual expansion to into the largest known library in the world.

It was the Saturday all four had been awaiting with mixed levels of anticipation and dread. Negi had just gotten into a pleasant routine, having become thoroughly integrated into class 2-A and all the chaos it necessarily entailed. Including a narrowly avoided disaster in the bath house that had him feeling _very_ relieved that he had learned Concealment. He had done the best he could to get out of there, and was fairly certain he succeeded – though some students in particular seemed to glance a little too often at his invisible form. On the brighter side of things, he had managed to learn the names of all of his girls, the majority of whom had insisted on being called by their first name. Although there was one student's name that looked strangely familiar, like he had read it somewhere before… He supposed he would remember it eventually.

Listening to the story the three girls were enthusiastically telling, Negi was understandably awed by the wave of information, briefly wondering why he hadn't heard of such a magnificent place before. He was about to head towards the main gates when the tallest of his students interrupted their story. "Oh, not that way, Negi-sensei! That's the normal entry, us Library Exploration members use a different entrance."

He nodded, feeling himself growing excited at the thought of a library having secret entrances. "I'll follow you, then, Haruna-san."

Yue took the moment to add in another detail that brought even more fantastic images to his imaginings. "Some time after the library became open to the general public, the majority of the above-ground floors – what most people understand to be Library Island – was sealed from the rest of the structure, due to reports of people becoming lost or injured after accidentally activating passages to the lower levels."

"Wait, lower _levels_? Just how far has the library expanded underground?"

All three of them shared a look for a moment, before giving a small nod. Yue continued, "You should keep this information to yourself, Negi-sensei, but nobody really knows how far down Library Island goes; it's one of the reasons the Exploration club has members up to the university level. There have been decent maps made up till basement level twelve, and reports of expeditions all the way down to fifteen… Though some of the things described in those reports keep them from obtaining too much credibility."

"Wait, wait…" Negi said, holding his hand up. "How is it that nobody can know how many floors the library has? Why hasn't anyone just gone down to the bottom and back up again?"

Nodoka spoke up this time as the two other girls fit matching keys into a door camouflaged into the mortar of the surrounding wall, "Umm, sensei… that's because library island can be very…"

She timed her last word as the door swung inward, revealing a labyrinthine arrangement of towering bookshelves, stretching on into the dim lights. "…dangerous."

Negi gaze widened as he saw rows upon rows of books – some shelves seemingly stuffed with hundreds apiece – drift off into the distant gloom. And he had thought the main library had a big selection? Finally managing to find his voice, he softly said, "…And there's fifteen more floors of this?"

"Nope, not all of 'em are like this!" Haruna said, "Some can get a lot bigger."

"…How do I become a member?"

"I'm guessing you like books, Negi-kun?"

"Yes. Very much so, actually."

In her usual monotone, Yue said, "Unfortunately, sensei, it would be against the rules for a member of the faculty to actually join a student club…" Here she subtly elbowed her blue-haired friend, whose eyes widened in realization.

"Ah! But you could be our advisor if you wanted, Negi-sensei!"

Negi's eyes, which had dimmed considerably when told he wouldn't be able to explore the library-dungeon, lit up again at those words. "Hmmm, I'd have to check what kind of responsibilities that would entail, and I'm pretty sure I can't hold that kind of position while I'm still on probation, per se… But I'll definitely keep it in mind!"

"Alright, alright!" Haruna said, ushering them all through the still-open doors, "Enough talking about the boring stuff; I'm pretty sure we came here for another reason, right?"

"Oh, right." Negi said a bit sheepishly, shivering a bit when he heard the doors shut behind them with a loud grind. "Sorry, I get a bit excited when it comes to antiques."

Yue suddenly sounded very interested, talking in between sips of some strange-looking juice box. "Do you collect antique books, Negi-sensei?"

He tilted his head, thinking for a moment as Nodoka pointed out several floor tiles they would want to avoid stepping on. "Sort of. I collect artifacts in general. Nearly all of them are magical in nature however, so I wouldn't be able to loan those books out to you."

"Do you mean you have collections of spell books? Even if we couldn't borrow them, I think we'd all like to see something like that. Even if we can't learn the spells, it would certainly be a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

After a moment, he replied, "At this point, I don't really think that would be a problem. It'll have to be a time when Asuna-san and Konoka-san are gone, though." At that point they had reached the circular mid-point of the maze-like floor, seeing with mild amusement that someone had set up several chairs and tables with "Property of Library Exploration Club" stamped on them. He gestured towards the empty seats, "Much as I'd love to continue exploring this, this is a good point to give you all a lesson on Magical Everything 101. Starting, of course, with a small demonstration."

Snapping his fingers, the chairs and tables slid smoothly across the stone floor to make a mock classroom, at which Negi stood in front of. Waving off the enthusiastic applause and cheering, he said, "Now, snapping my fingers really wasn't necessary for that, but there is a certain flair when I do, don't you think? What really was the key here was this," pointing to his ring with small glyphs inscribed on it. "A ring like this, specially crafted, can channel magic as well as any wand or staff, though its size makes it exceedingly difficult to add supplementary functions like flight or tuning towards different elements."

Holding up a hand to forestall the questions he could see forming, he clarified, "By elements, I mean fire, water – all the classical ones, plus you can specialize in exotic ones like shadow, sand, metal, and many more. I personally have an affinity for wind and lightning magic, which is what I just used to arrange the desks. Since I'm so attuned to it, I don't need to use an incantation to manipulate the wind like other mages would."

Haruna spoke up once he finished. "So how many elements can you specialize in? Can you learn all the elements?"

"Good question. There is a learning curve with elements: while almost every mage can use beginner magic of all the elements," illustrating the point by creating a small flame with his left hand and a ball of water with his right, "It takes progressively more time to master spells you aren't naturally suited for. Of course, with overwhelming magical power – which you can think of as a sort of mana, a life force all around us wizards tap into – you could use nearly any spell you wanted to, but thankfully mages like that are few and far between." He suppressed a shudder at that. Ala Rubra may have been the greatest heroes of the century, but it didn't change the fact that they were basically living bombs, some with dangerously short fuses.

"Ah, why would you say 'thankfully'?" Nodoka said, tilting her head slightly. "Isn't it good to have powerful mages in the world – if they're not evil, that is."

"Oh no, it's not that they were evil… let me put it like this: around twenty years ago, there was a world war that encompassed nearly the entire magical world. One side had an enormous army – valkyries, flying battleships, huge magical laser beams, that sort of stuff. The other side was nearly beaten, when Ala Rubra showed up. At the time, it was designated as a terrorist group made up of around half a dozen mages. And they singlehandedly destroyed the entire country's military. All of it. By eight people, several of whom couldn't have been older than us. Do you see why even if they were the good guys, that's completely terrifying?"

"Wow…" They all murmured. "So what happened to this group of super-mages after the war?"

"They enjoyed the public spotlight for a while, and then they all eventually faded out and vanished. Nobody knows where. We still don't know who several of its younger members even were, so they could be anywhere for all we know.

"Anyway, I think we should move on to more relevant topics, that being the current magical society attitude towards mundanes – people without magic. Now I think I made it clear that the existence of the magical world is being kept a well-guarded secret, and there are multiple measures put in place to prevent people from exposing magic to the world. Most of which require the cooperation a mage who learns of any breach, which is why you three are still safe."

"So, what would happen if a mage caught us?" Haruna asked.

"You'd all get your memories wiped of everything magic-related, and they'd probably put tabs on you for several months to make sure it was an isolated occurrence. As for me, at the very least I'd lose my job here, and probably be exiled to the magical world. Depending on the ruling, I might get cursed to be an ermine, as well."

All three of their faces noticeably paled at that statement. "Really? It's that serious to keep magic a secret, that they'd turn you into some weasel and banish you from the world?"

He shrugged helplessly, "The laws in this area go to the magical world for jurisdiction, and they're notoriously behind on the times in these matters. The centralized government has a culture comparable to the 1700's or so. The ermine punishment is partly insurance to keep the offender from breaking the secret again, but mostly just discouragement from breaking it in the first place. Losing the ability to access one's magic isn't a price many people would pay."

"Negi-sensei?" Nodoka asked, "If all these terrible things can happen to you if something goes wrong, wouldn't it be… better, to just make us forget about it? Not that I would tell anyone or anything like that!" she stammered, "It's just that it seems really dangerous to Negi-sensei…"

"I'm still not sure how I feel about that," he said, frowning. "Erasing someone's memory, I mean. One thing that's universally known to every mage is 'taking away someone's freedom with magic is wrong'. They use love potions and mind-breaking curses as obvious examples, but when it comes to selectively destroying parts of a person memory, it's just seen as a necessary evil. And to be honest, I'm still not sure how I should take that." It was, after all, one of the few things that Chamo harped at him when he was getting into the inscription business. He gave them a reassuring smile, "As long as nobody else finds out, it'll be all right. Now, on to other topics…"

* * *

The water was reflecting a soft orange glow around Library Island by the time the four returned to their dorms. Even he hadn't thought it would take the entire day; they were merciless in asking every question they could think of. Yue especially seemed to catch on to basic magical theory quickly and asked rather insightful questions for someone who hadn't even held a wand. Though her response of "It's not interesting." when he asked why she didn't pay this attention in class was rather disheartening. And of course, he just _had_ to let it slip about pactios, important as they were magical society. His quick clarifications about needing a magic circle that he was definitely not going to show them cooled Haruna's head somewhat, but he still remembered that gleam in her eye.

It looked too much like Chamo when he found out about a fantastic business opportunity for comfort.

Nevertheless, they managed to make it out of the labyrinth while only hitting dead ends twice, which all three club members affirmed was faster than usual. With promises to show him more of Mahora's hidden library in the future, Negi waved goodbye as they continued down the dorm's hallway.

His smile drooped slightly as he saw an annoyed redhead staring at him on a chair opposite the door. "So where do you think _you've_ been all day, Negi?"

Oops. He had been gone for almost the entire day, hadn't he? Remembering his default excuse whenever someone asked him what he was doing out in obscure parts of Meridiana, he replied, "Outside playing!" trying to put on his best 'innocent little kid' face.

Her eyes only narrowed at his statement. "Right. Playing in your suit?"

Damn, he forgot he was still wearing that. It had become something of a habit to be taken more seriously, back at the academy. "Well, maybe not so much 'playing', but exploring the campus. The library, really."

"And you were there since noon?" She said skeptically.

"I read a lot." Negi replied, "Speaking of which, exams are coming up in two weeks. I think you should be making a few trips to the library yourself, or you might be a 'Baka Ranger' next year too."

"Hey!" she cried, flushing slightly, "I thought you said you didn't like that name!"

"Not really, but outside the classroom, I can't deny it's pretty funny."

She just rolled her eyes. "Brat…" But when he looked back from his desk, he saw that she had taken out a textbook and was reading it, however disinterestedly. Negi felt a small smile grace his lips – she might be a tad overbearing, but he was starting to see what Konoka had said the day he met them.

From his desk, he called, "I'm drawing up a schedule for afterschool tutoring prepping for the final – are there any days you'll be busy?"

She looked up, surprised. "One sec, let me grab my calendar."

Yes, it looked like it might be a good year after all.

* * *

"Sasaki-san! If I wanted to eat food, what would I be?"

"You would be 'hungry!'"

"Correct! And Yue-san: given a right triangle, what is the lowest theoretical value of any of its two angles?"

"…An angle whose limit approaches ninety degrees."

"Good! Alright, fifteen minute break – get some water while I get another review book."

It was nearly an hour into one of the last review sessions Negi would have with the self-appointed "Baka Rangers", and he was honestly impressed with the strides his students had made. After noting that the same five students were attending his regular weekly make-up classes, he decided to do some administrative digging into their records. And in all his years at Meridiana Academy, never before had he seen marks so terrifying.

Whether it was due to sports practice, unfamiliarity with Japanese language, let alone English, or in one case, an apathetic attitude towards schoolwork, those five girls had been dragging class 2-A down in the school ranks for months – maybe even longer. And though he wasn't sure why that situation hadn't been addressed previously, he shuddered to think what would have happened had he not overheard some teachers in the staff room discussing exams. As it was they barely had enough time, meeting every few days in an abandoned study room in the public area of the Mahora Library Yue had found.

He'd opened it up to the whole class, of course, and a large portion of it packed into the room during the first day – at least until they realized the content of the lessons were geared towards a certain five members of 2-A. Returning from the break, Negi had found the room to suddenly much more spacious compared to the beginning of the session. Ayaka did her best to stick it out, in what Negi found to be an admirable sense of loyalty to her classmates, but she too succumbed after the next hour of lessons from the first few weeks of school.

The other members of the Library Exploration Club did drop by from time to time; Haruna and Nodoka keeping Yue well-supplied with juice and Konoka chatting with Asuna during breaks. When the five began to get restless there were some strange sights, like when Makie idly snapped her ribbon across the room, snagging books and rearranging them in the spacious shelves, or when Ku Fei decided to practice her katas while balanced on top of her chair, but Negi realized he was starting to get used to this level of strangeness coming from his class. It barely even bothered him anymore when he tried to understand like how the Narutakis could be in the same grade as Tatsumiya, or even Kaede over there. Even with the exams coming up in a few days, everything was going fantastically well, for both his class and his strange, exhilarating career.

Which was why, after the newly minted class 3-A had a party for passing final exams _without_ taking last place for the first time in years, Negi still had yet to realize he hadn't been paying much attention to anything for the past two weeks other than getting his class's scores to satisfactory levels. While the rest of the class certainly understood – they were looking forward to seeing how their standing would improve as much as he was – they had taken to gossiping around the latest rumors to befall the various schools on campus, of which Negi didn't even notice.

So it was not until the representative from the nurse's office interrupted class the following morning, reporting one of his students had been found unconscious overnight, that Negi learned about the "Vampire of Mahora."

* * *

Lexicon Negimarum Falsum

Inscription – "Words have power." This concept is the fundamental basis of all incantation-based spells, and of a majority modern wizardry. There is another concept which runs parallel to it, which comprises the magic of Inscription and all written, diagrammed magics: "Drawings have power." Wards are but stones ringed by lines in the earth, and charms are but scribbled-on scraps of paper. Yet, when these geometrical designs and runes are combined and applied correctly, they can access a well of magic as deep as any chanted spell. Ever since man, and therefore, wizard, began to make dots and notches in clay tablets, he has known the power of Inscription.

Cursed Transformation – A mages magic is his closest companion. Nothing else will stay with him for so much of his life, and nothing else can be called upon when he enters his most dire straits. It would, then, be a cruel act indeed to turn a mage's magic against himself, to bind it against his will as his own body is ravaged by its vital energy. This is, in a word, the harshest of punishments Megalomesembria may ordain upon its criminals, more humiliating than slavery and more painful than death. It would take a mage of iron will, indeed, to survive his first night as a helpless animal, bereft of his greatest tool and utility.

* * *

**A/N: **A chapter title: "In Which Meterion Realizes He Can Not Write Slice of Life." Really. But these next chapters will be something more in my element—or at least that's my hope. And as a formatting comment, I recently realized my dashes weren't actually dashes. While everything I've written follows this: "word – word", everything after this will be like so: "word—word". I honestly can't believe it took me that long to figure that one out.

In a different vein, addressing whether or not Negi is looking to be incredibly overpowered: Negi in the original series is ridiculously overpowered. She blatantly says that there was no way a ten-year old should have the kind of magic power he did _at the beginning of the series_. And of course, it only grows from there. By spreading out his skillset more—and as such, scaling down his level power in his original skills to account for time spent learning different things—I'd like to think this Negi is more balanced, combat-wise. This will become quite apparent when Negi's opponents aren't middle-school students (even if it was Asuna.)

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter, questions and comments will be answered promptly, as usual!


	4. Chapter 4

**Going Rogue**

**Chapter 4**

* * *

Disclaimer: For a disclaimer, look to chapter 7.

[Note: _italic speech_ can refer to spell incantations, or dialogue from an unseen location/source, or (possibly) other things as the story goes on.]

* * *

There was instant disorder in the class when Izumi came into the room, answering the question of why Makie hadn't shown up to school for the first day of term. Cries of concern were flung about just as quickly as quickly crafted theories of what had happened to her. Among the fantastically varied theories involving space ships, underground lizards, and mafioso blood drives, one in particular seemed to ring out to him. "Vampire."

Thinking about it now, there were several 'legends' he had heard his students gossiping about, back before the exams. Maybe dismissing them with the rest of Mahora's seemingly-inexhaustible rumor mill wasn't such a good idea, after all? And why did 'vampire' sound so strangely familiar in his head—was there something he was forgetting…

"Hey, Negi-kun!" He jumped out of his thoughts, noticing his red-haired roommate standing next to him, a look of concern on her face. "Are you okay? You look a bit off."

"Y-yes, Asuna-san, I'm fine." He said, realizing that more and more of the class had dissolved into a shout-fest trying to disseminate what could have happened to their classmate. He grabbed a small ruler he kept around for times like these, sharply rapping it against the blackboard until the noise had died down to a level where he could be heard. "Alright class, I know you're all worried about Sasaki-san, and believe me, I am too. However, class is still going on! The infirmary has visiting hours, so we'll be able to see her after class is over."

A general assent rumbled forth from the collected students, who went back to their seats to resume their lesson. Waving off an apology from Izumi who had inadvertently started the whole clamor, he caught Yue giving him a questioning stare. He gave a subtle shrug, mouthing "after class", which she returned with a nearly imperceptible nod. The class went on as usual, if not somewhat less productive from their worried states. The small exchange between the two went unnoticed by almost everyone, save for a suspicious pair of mismatched eyes.

Negi quickly made his way to the infirmary after class, beating most of his students to the ward she was still asleep in. Seeing her still form under the light blankets, Negi was somewhat worried when he took a peak towards her chart. While normally anemia would be a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why Makie would suddenly pass out… Negi and every other competent mage knew what it meant when those symptoms of anemia inexplicably vanished. Just to be sure, he gently placed two fingers on the side of the girl's neck, feeling for any residual magic.

"So what's happened to her?"

Negi nearly jumped at the voice coming from behind him, grateful at least it was someone he wouldn't have to try to explain away his curious actions to. "While the traces are very faint, the taint of vampiric magic is very distinct. There's no mistake about it, Yue-san. There's a vampire somewhere on campus."

"That sounds… troublesome. But she wasn't actually hurt, was she?"

Turning from the bed, he noticed she looked completely out of breath. "Did you run all the way here? And no, whoever attacked her was careful about how much blood they took. Give her a month and her body will have purged any lingering taint."

"You might want to be a bit more inconspicuous in how you use your magic, Negi-sensei. If the rest of class didn't have such absurd athletic ability they might have found it a bit weird that a ten year old sprinted across three school buildings faster than they could." She said, catching her breath.

At that moment, the door to the hall burst open again, this time revealing a gasping Haruna, followed by a similarly ragged Nodoka. "So?" she breathed, "Did we guess right?" Yue gave a short nod in response. "Yes! I knew it would be a vampire! 3-H and 3-D all had too similar stories for it to not be true." She paused for a moment, before looking to her teacher with an excited grin. "So are you going to fight it, huh? I mean, that's why they have you on the campus, right? To deal with crazy things like this? Oh, won't it attack tonight, too?"

Negi blinked at the onslaught of questions. "Wait, you said two other classes had similar stories to this? When did those attacks occur?"

"Last night and the night before!" She said with a squeal, "So of course it's gonna happen tonight! Can you just dump holy water on it or something? Or is that just movie stuff? Oh, and can we watch, too?"

"Ah, well…" Negi looked off to the side, "I suppose I am going to need some way of finding out where the attack will come from…"

"Negi-sensei!" Nodoka spoke up, "One common element in the rumors from other classes and what happened to Makie-san is that they were all found unconscious at Sakura Lane."

"Really?" he muttered almost to himself, "I suppose that'll make things simple. But then to lure it in I'd need bait, and I can't put an innocent bystander in danger."

"Um, I can do it!" Nodoka said suddenly, raising her hand like she was answering a question in class.

"What? No, I couldn't ask you to do that!" Negi said, surprised she would say something like that.

Looking to her friends for support, he was dismayed to see Haruna with a hand contemplatively rubbing her chin. "Wouldn't that be a pretty good idea, Negi-kun? We already know about magic, so you don't have to involve anyone else… and didn't you mention back at the Island that you could make those teleportation things?"

He hadn't told her how much they cost, though… Well, unless he dipped into that stock he kept for situations like this. "I _think_ that could work, I'd just need to adjust the parameters of the release so they would release upon physical, rather than magical interaction..." He continued to mumble to himself, thinking through the modifications he could make to his tags for non-magic user compatibility.

"Well, that settles that!" Haruna proclaimed, clapping Negi on the back while he was lost in his thoughts and ushering her shorter friends out the door. "We'll meet you at the history building at sunset, don't be late!"

Looking up, he cried out, "Hey, wait! I haven't agreed to anything!" But his words fell only on the creaking door of the hospital room, where several of his other students were beginning to emerge. Negi sighed, "Can't let my guard down around that girl." Waving to her fellow athletic friends and assuring them that she would be right as rain in a day or two, Negi resignedly walked back to his room to pull out his inscription set again. He should probably pack light for this—no sense in tipping off the magically-sensitive creature with his veritable armory of artifacts. Still, he couldn't help but feel a small shiver of anticipation as he walked down the campus's streets. This was what he'd been training for, when he could finally test how far he had come since that night…

And more importantly, that monster had attacked one of his students, and safe or not, it was going to have to face the consequences. He didn't know how it managed to get past the academy wards, but he'd make sure to send it right back!

* * *

"This is 'Leek', testing 1-2-3, come in 'Bookstore.' Over."

"_This is Bookstore, you're loud and clear, over."_

"Is Bookstore in position, and bookmark ready? Over."

"_Affirmative to both. Radio silence now. Over."_

"Understood, over."

Glancing up from the small transponder kit, Negi gave a questioning glance to an eager-looking Haruna. "Where did you get military-grade walkie-talkies and earpieces from, exactly?"

Barely able to discern his form in the dark, she replied, "Chao was having a rummage sale, and we had to get a set anyway for club activities."

He recalled the enigmatic Chinese girl, whose preferred mode of transportation was what appeared to be a pair of rocket-powered rollerblades, and decided he could accept that. He hunched down a bit more as a wind cut through the roof he, Haruna, and Yue were all currently lying prone on. With a bit of enhancement, he could just barely make out the figure walking down the beginning of Sakura Lane, and readied himself to spring into action. "You two remember what to do?"

"I activate the wide-range illusion tag the moment Nodoka gets here," Yue replied, "and I get ready to grab Paru's arm if something goes wrong."

"Where I grab onto Nodoka and activate the emergency escape talisman!" Haruna finished.

"Right." Negi said, nodding his head sharply. "And don't forget the panic phrase; keep a hand on that too. Stay sharp, it's almost showtime."

Feeling the cold chill in the air, Negi wrapped his coat tightly around himself, careful not to dislodge the various objects he had strapped beneath it. He grinned ruefully—to him, packing light still meant carrying more firepower than the average mage had in their armory.

He let out a small hiss, feeling a sudden heat on his forearm. Looking down, he saw a faint coal-red glow from beneath his sleeve. "Perimeter's been breached," he murmured to them, "It'll be any second now."

The seconds seemed to drip by now, Negi's entire body tensed for action—it was almost a relief when the he noticed the world blurring before his eyes, the tell-tale sign a transportation spell was about to activate. He unconsciously brought a hand to rest on his chest as he began a quiet chant, imagining he could feel the thin scrap of paper securely attached beneath his magically-reinforced jacket and shirt, glowing in synchrony with the one sticking out of Nodoka's book.

He thought it was pretty clever; linking the two teleportation talismans together with a drop of blood, keyed to one another's activation. He quickly shut his eyes now, all-too familiar with the disorientation that would occur with a sudden change of visual stimuli, until at once he felt the air around him change, his feet touch unfamiliar ground.

Snapping his eyes open, he trained his sight on a black-cloaked figure that already was recoiling from its sudden change of prey. With his staff held behind him, he raised his open palm at the assailant.

"_Sagitta Magica: Aer Capturae!_"

From his hand burst eleven lances of wind, bending and twisting on their way to the retreating vampire. Opening with a binding spell seemed fair, given that the monster had retained enough of its wits to avoid lethal harm to its victims. And enough to actually dress like a stereotypical vampire, he noted with a touch of amusement.

He saw it reach for something in its robes, throwing several small objects that glinted in the streetlights, before they exploded into a sheet of ice the wind arrows impacted against, shattering both in a flurry of impacted ice. Negi's eyes widened; normal vampires didn't have this kind of magical ability!

With that realization, he barely had time to react as a large chunk of ice came hurtling out of the crystalline fog, just managing to shout "Deflexio!" as the power behind the projectile drove him back several feet. "Just… just what are you?" He called out, panting from the momentary exertion.

A cold chuckle emerged from the icy mist, which, much to Negi's worry, wasn't dissipating like he was expecting it to. "What? Don't tell me after three months, you still can't recognize your students? _Negi-sensei?_"

A chill crept through him at those words, wordlessly swiping his staff forward to ward the mist away with a gust of wind to reveal a surprisingly diminutive figure. The wind incidentally also blew the decidedly-female vampire's hat away, blowing long blonde tresses behind her.

"E…Evangeline-san?" Wait, all this time he had a vampire in his class? And why did that name sound so familiar?

He realized he would have to think about it later, as she lazily responded, "The one and only, Evangeline McDowell." Making a mocking curtsy with her cape, she continued, "And you are Negi Springfield, Mahora middle school teacher, and more importantly: son of that damned Thousand Master!"

Great, so his opponent was a vampire, a mage, and had a grudge against his father? He did his best to keep his nerves from showing. "Great, so you've heard of my father too—just like every other magical being on the planet."

She gave a disdainful snort, "'Heard of him'? Boy, I'd known him for months before he abandoned me!"

"What?!" Negi said. Up till now he only had second-hand information about his father—reports scrounged from the MagiNet, or insubstantial anecdotes on backwater forums. Someone, or some government, more like, had done a thorough job in suppressing what information there was on the net. Now there was someone who claimed to know him personally? "How did you know him?"

"Heh, so eager to talk to me now? I'll tell you about your father, boy, if you can catch me!"

And with that, she flitted up into the night, seemingly using nothing more but her own cape. After gaping again at the casual display of such advanced magic, he brought his staff underneath him and took off in pursuit. After making it out of the treeline, he almost jumped as a voice crackled to life in his ear.

"_Leek, this is Ink! Are you pursuing? Over!"_

Taking a moment to find the talk button, he replied, "Affirmative, our vampire's more powerful than I thought. Pursue if you want, but get out of there if you even think she's noticed you! Over."

"_Wait, 'she?'"_

"I'll tell you later. Over and out."

He caught sight of the vampire—his student out over an open park. He reached back with a free hand, feeling out which elementally-tuned staff of the three strapped behind him he was looking for. Pulling his arm back, he admired for a moment the dark ebony rod, tapering at one end and with a large black orb suspended in place just above its tip. He slowly centered the orb over her, making sure the shot would count.

"_Rastel Maskil Magister: Nothing can resist its force! Even the stars must fall from the eternal heavens! Cadere!"_

The black orb began to crackle with a purple light, as far off into the field a circular section of earth suddenly flattened: grass, stray branches, even a lamp post was crushed into the yielding dirt. And with it impacted a tiny shrieking vampire. Negi almost winced as he put the spent staff back in its holster; he really didn't know how strong the gravity staff was, though the price he had to pay for it had implied it wasn't anything to sneeze at. Maybe he'd gotten a little too caught up in what she said about knowing his father?

Then again, there was that enormous ball of ice hurtling his way that seemed to say otherwise. He jerked sideways, able to feel the chill of the spell as it passed by inches from body. He looked back down to where his opponent had hit the earth, and was almost unsurprised to find only a layer of slightly melted snow. It seemed like ice was this one's specialty.

He was proven dangerously right when he heard the tinkling of broken glass from behind him—specifically, in the spot where the now-hollow ice sphere fell down to the earth. _"Jaculatio Grandinis!"_

Negi cursed to himself, recognizing the elemental spear spell. Deliberately rolling off his broom to quickly get out of the air and free his concentration, he turned back towards the sky and began to silently manipulate the wind around the dozens of icicles descending above him. His face was the picture of concentration as he created small, devious currents around the blades of ice; certainly, while spears provided a much greater mass and damage potential compared to arrows, one unfortunate liability was the inability to control their trajectory once cast. Now, one directly above him seemed to veer slightly off course, gently nudging one next to it out of place. Another cracked slightly as it hit at another, which hit another, and another…

Negi had just enough time to prepare a cushion of wind for himself when the hail of frozen javelins destroyed the already-hardened ground with a vicious crash. Three hidden onlookers gasped in shock as they spied what had occurred from their vantage point—at least until the smoke began to clear. For in an untouched ring of dirt surrounded by a forest of spears stood Negi, dusting himself off and looking as smug as could be. Which, for a ten year old kid, looked rather adorable.

"_Well, well, well…"_ Evangeline's amused voice seemed to emanate from every surrounding icicle, Negi quietly summoning his treasured staff to him in a defensive position. _"It looks like our little teacher is stronger than he looks! That's a pretty rare artifact you've got there, boy. But it still won't be enough."_

A chill raced through Negi, feeling it was a _bad_ idea to stay where he was, jumping on his staff just as he heard the all-too familiar sound of breaking glass against the ice pillars. From each column erupted a series of spikes, several of them clipping his legs before he could shoot out of the way. The force from the blows knocked him off his staff, but luckily also clear of the ring of spears as he roughly tumbled down to the ground. "Ugh…" He tenderly sat up, feeling the rips and tears going through his pants. Good thing he inscripted a bit of structural reinforcement on the cloth—it was going to be a pain to heal his legs just as they were.

"Awww, can't even stand up now?" A mocking voice said from behind him. "And without your staff to fly away, too. I've been waiting fifteen years for this moment!"

Good, it looked like she hadn't noticed his ring yet. He slowly brought that hand underneath him, hiding it and reaching for a pocket with a few choice talismans to use… only to find that they had been ripped to shreds escaping that last spell. Well, damn. He didn't think he could snap out an entire incantation before she used another catalyst potion, which made most of his casting useless. It was strange, despite her incredible skill with them, using potions seemed to be all she could do with the amount of magical power he sensed from her. Perplexed, and trying to buy time, he asked, "How is it that you have such skill with your spells, but have to rely on potions for the power behind them?"

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say, given how she suddenly looked a lot less mischievous and a lot more murderous. "You really want to know…" she began quietly, "You really want to know why I have so little magic… why I can barely use the most simple of spells… Why I can't even fly without the full moon out?" Her voice was slowly rising in volume as she continued, Negi becoming seriously unnerved at the display. "Why I can't even leave this damn campus? You want to know why I've been stuck in this hellhole surrounded by babbling idiots for the past fifteen _years?!_ Because of the Thousand Master!"

She almost spat his title out, Negi flinching as she casually stepped on him, causing his legs to flare up in pain again. She switched back to a more controlled tone, now. "Your father managed to put a curse on me, and then he disappeared before he could lift it, leaving me to languish around this godforsaken school for more than a decade. But…" She gave him a hungry look, causing him to shiver. "With his son's blood, I'd be able to break the curse myself!" Leaning down, she gave him an almost regretful look. "Sorry, but with your size and the amount of blood I need, you're going to have to die."

"Wait!" Negi squeaked as she was lowering her fangs to his neck. "Don't I get any last words?"

She gave him an annoyed look. "Fine, but make it quick. And if I hear an activation key you'll be dead before you finish it."

He shivered, knowing she'd have no problem doing just that. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves, before adjusting his jacket with his free hand. A muffled static momentarily emitted from the collar of his cloak, causing Evangeline to blink confusedly. Negi smirked triumphantly at the blonde before saying, "Ink, get me outta here."

"_Roger."_

Immediately he saw the world grow hazy, a shocked expression on the girl's face the last thing he saw before he suddenly found himself staring up at the bright night sky. Blinking away the sudden vertigo, finally let out an enormous sigh of relief. "Good timing, Haruna. I was just about to eat it there."

At those words he was mobbed by a concerned Nodoka, and a slower-approaching Yue. "Negi-sensei, you're hurt!"

With the adrenaline fading, Negi was becoming much, much more aware of that fact now. "Yeah, she nearly got me with that last spell of her."

"Sensei," Yue said, "Just who was it that you were fighting? She looked around your size with blonde hair, but that was all we could make out from the distance."

"Hey, yeah!" Haruna added in, "You two were talking like you knew each other! Do you know her from the magical world or something?"

"…You know, I think I might have actually seen her picture somewhere before, that might be why I felt like I already met her. But no, I recognized her because she's part of my class."

Smiling at their stupefied faces, he continued. "The 'Vampire of Mahora' is actually none other than Evangeline McDowell. Oh, and she's an evil mage too. Speaking of which, we should get out of here; I don't want to find out if she can track teleportation."

"But your legs, sensei…" Nodoka said. Looking down he saw that some blood was starting to seep its way through the soft fabric. Wow, he got hit worse than he realized.

"Do you still have the set of talismans I gave you, Haruna-san?" Seeing her nod, he said, "Pick out the one that's got a circle made of red ink in the center, I can use that one for healing."

Accepting the slip of parchment, he placed it over his chest before flooding it with magical energy. The runes on the tag began to glow a pinkish red, pulsing in time to his heartbeat as they sank down and disappeared into his skin. After several seconds, his legs begin to emit that same dull glow in stripes roughly matching where his pants were torn open. Slowly the glow receded, leaving behind pink, but intact flesh behind.

"Wow…" Haruna said, thoroughly impressed. "How much can you heal with something like that?"

"That's around all I can do at my level, actually." Negi admitted. "Surface wounds, bruising, and moderate burns—but the downside is that the spell almost parasitically draws power from around the affected area to heal it, leaving it weak for some hours after. It's the most effective tag of that sort I can make right now."

"So what does that mean, basically?" Haruna asked, not really sure what to make of the magic-babble.

"Well, um… that I won't be able to walk well for the rest of the night. Could one of you help me up?" Negi asked sheepishly.

"In that case, I'm sure Nodoka would be happy to help!" Haruna said excitedly, practically pushing her on top of him. "Right?"

"I-if it's alright with you, Negi-sensei!" She said, offering a hand quickly accepted by the exhausted teacher.

"You've all been to Asuna's dorm before; I'll be able to walk from there."

Hefting her teacher up was proving to be a difficult task for the young librarian. "Ah, Yue, could you get the other side, please?"

"Hm? Oh, sure." Yue managed to put his arm around her shoulder while still keeping a good grip on her juice box with her hand, and they all slowly made their way back to the girl's dormitories.

"Doesn't this kind of remind you of that one time in club training?" Haruna asked around halfway through their trek.

"You mean the time the carabiners broke when we were exploring level two?"

"I remember that; you sprained your ankle after you fell three cases down!"

"Yep! Man, I was never more relieved that the club had finished the overnight infirmary by then. Having to carry someone all the way back to dorms is a pain!"

"Says the person who's not doing anything…"

Negi gulped nervously. "The more I hear about the Library Exploration Club the more dangerous it sounds. Are you sure they should allow middle schoolers to be doing that sort of thing?"

"It's comparable to mountain climbing," Yue explained, "depending on how old you are, there's a limit on how far you can go down."

"Except these mountains are covered in booby traps." Haruna added.

"True." Yue admitted. "This is your door, Negi-sensei?"

"Ah, so it is." Leaning out of Yue's shoulder to open the door, he said, "Have a good night, you three! And don't try to confront Evangeline about anything! It's much safer if she doesn't know who you are."

"You can count on us!" Haruna said, snapping a salute. After they all chimed "Good night!" he finally made it to his bed, performing a rather graceless roll onto it, hoping he hadn't knocked down anything important on his desk below. Tomorrow he'd have to deal with having a murderous vampire in his class… but for now he was content to sleep away the ache in his legs.

* * *

Negi stared at the classroom door. On one hand, he probably wouldn't be a teacher very long if he was truant to his own class… and on the other hand, he couldn't be a teacher anyway if he was a bloodless husk. How did he manage to not notice there was an evil vampire-mage amongst his students, anyway?

Taking a deep breath and flinging open the door, he suddenly recalled the reason: that's right, she never shows up to class. Near the back of the class there was an almost-perpetually empty seat which Negi had almost grown accustomed to glancing over. He always meant to have a word with her about it, but always managed to get wrapped up in his students that had exam scores even lower than hers.

Although, thinking about it, if he was forced to repeat same year of school over a dozen times, he would probably lose some enthusiasm for it, too.

His class went surprisingly calmly—or at least, as calmly as 3-A could manage. Everyone had managed to throw together a sign, balloons, and snacks for an impromptu "Welcome Back Makie!" party, which was the only ruckus the class caused over the course of the day.

The only indication that Negi had fought for his life last night were the occasional glances he could see the Library Explorers give to the empty desk, as well as occasional worried looks to him. Haruna, over his grumbled protests, took it upon herself to start making a comic depicting "The breathtaking battles of the boy mage and the evil vampire!", which would probably be the most accurate depiction of magical combat to be sold in the Old World.

"Come on, Negi-kun!" She pleaded, "It's not like I'm putting your names in there or anything! Look, you've even got black hair; how's anyone supposed to be able to tell it's you?"

After much haggling and negotiations, Haruna finally walked away victorious, provided she got his approval on the chapter first… and gave him a twenty percent cut of the profits. He figured if she was going to be selling the series at conventions, the 'source material' should get some of the credit, right?

Yes, Negi was having a very relaxing day, which meant when one of his students burst into his office (really, their dorm room, but the Headmaster promised he'd have one eventually) wearing nothing but a robe and claiming a wild animal was loose in the bath house stealing people's clothes, he just sighed and asked if anyone was hurt yet.

"So Kakizaki-san, was there anything in particular you can describe about the animal? How big, its color, that sort of thing?" The two were quickly making their way to the indoor bath, while Negi tried to get an idea of what kind of weirdness he was up against this time. As long as Hakase wasn't involved, he was confident there wouldn't be too much damage to clean up. He warned her very clearly the next time one of her "creative" designs malfunctioned he wasn't going to try to shut it off first.

"Let's see…" She said, tapping a finger to her chin, "I didn't actually see it, but everyone was saying that it was really small and white. Some people said it was a weasel actually, but I don't think they steal things like that."

Wait, a little white weasel that went around causing perverted mayhem? Was that who he thought it was? "Alright, I think I know just what it is you're talking about; if you'll excuse me, Kakizaki-san, I need to discipline a rodent."

With that he took off like a shot, leaving behind a startled cheerleader in his wake. "I swear, all those years and it's like nothing changed," he grumbled to himself, "and of all the times he can show up… actually, maybe this is good. He might have some advice on dealing with Evangeline." With that thought in mind, he entered the scene at the baths, which was, predictably, one of complete chaos.

He arrived just in time to see Asuna almost nonchalantly bat a furry blur up and out of the open-air enclosure with a stool. "And stay out!" He heard her yell, before she turned to regard the new arrival. "Eh? Negi-kun, what're you doing here?"

"Kakizaki-san came to me saying an animal was stealing everyone's clothes here." He said simply, while muttering a quick "_Locate_" under his breath to find out exactly where his wayward familiar was.

Asuna nodded, "The damn thing was snatching them right out of our baskets! I don't think it'll be coming back anytime soon, though." She grinned, brandishing the stool while several other classmates cheered, "That's our Asuna!"

"Well… if you've got it under control, I'll be going then." He said quickly, not really liking being in a room full of his barely-clothed students.

"Hold it, brat!" She said, shooting out her arm and catching his head in a vice-like grip. "You haven't been skipping out on baths again, have you?"

"Of course not!" He said, affronted, trying to pull her hand away, "Honestly, it was just that one time!"

She brought him in closer against his ineffectual struggles to take a sniff. "…Alright, you pass. For now. But don't think I won't stop checking!"

Negi rolled his eyes as broke away from her. "Yes, mom!" Finally able to take a breath of fresh air, he concentrated on the results of his location spell. "Location undetermined, huh… And with such a short ping, too. Wonderful." He never really liked it Chamo laid on the perversion too thick, and Chamo knew it just as well. He supposed the little ermine was waiting for him to cool off a bit before he showed up.

There hadn't been many orders for his tags recently; he might as well just relax for now. He ascended another flight of stairs to an outdoor viewing deck, only to find some students were already using it. Just the student he wasn't expecting to see, today.

"Hello, Evangeline-san, and Karakuri-san." He said guardedly, keeping a hand ready to grab his staff. Chachamaru quietly bowed in return, while Evangeline rolled her eyes.

"No need to be so tense, boy—I'm not attacking you today. Look," she said, pulling back her gums to reveal completely normal canines, "That curse is tied in with the moon cycle. Even if I bothered, I wouldn't be able to drain you until the new moon. So you've got nothing to worry about… for a few weeks."

Negi slowly nodded before throwing a questioning glance at the green-haired girl beside her. "And it's okay to be saying all that?"

"Oh, you mean Chachamaru? She knows about magic—it would be a little difficult for her not to, really."

"Right." Negi said, not quite understanding what she was getting at. "I'll just be going then. Oh, and stop ditching my class!" He called out, walking back towards his room. Looked like he wouldn't have to worry about his "problem student" for the time being—not that he wasn't going to go straight to the headmaster and get him to take care of it.

"Hey! Negi-kun, did you find that rat?"

"Ah! Haruna-san." He said, turning around. "I'm afraid I haven't, but I'll catch him next time. Maybe-" He trailed off, hearing a familiar shriek through the corridors. "Was that…"

"Yeah, that was Nodoka." Haruna said with a bored look. "It happens every now and then; she's a bit of a scaredy cat when it comes to creepy-crawlies."

Negi stiffened as he realized something, "And we already have one animal running around…"

At his words, she already broke into a run, "That thing better not get into my clothes!"

Negi soon followed, dreading the disaster that was probably going to follow this confrontation. Rounding the corner and following through the still-open door, Negi glanced around the first dorm room he'd been in, or at least one that he wasn't already living in. The color scheme was muted and earthy; appropriate, he supposed, to the obvious reading atmosphere. One corner looked to have been claimed by Haruna given the art supplies strewn about, but everywhere else there were books everywhere: on shelves, tables, even stacks from the ground nearly as tall as he was! And in the center of it all was an overturned laundry basket, a terrified little librarian sitting on top.

"Haruna, you're back! Oh, and Negi-sensei too—Gah, the room's so messy!" She scrambled to straighten papers and arrange books around her, taking care to keep a foot weighing down on the small basket all the while.

"I take it the ermine's in there, then?"

She nodded. "I heard about what happened in the bath, so I went to the room and make sure the door was locked. And when I opened the door, it bounded in right in front of me! It was a good thing we had already set out the book basket, or I don't think I would've caught it."

Silently wondering exactly how many books the three girls borrow from the library to need a basket _that_ big to carry them, he said, "Well, we'll know in a second if that's the ermine I think it is. Could you take your foot off for a moment Nodoka?" Giving the unsupported box a few kicks, he said, "Okay Chamo, you can come on out now."

Seconds later a corner of the box lifted the slightest bit, revealing a small inquisitive nose, before a furry white weasel darted out from the space, running up the leg of Negi's pants and settling down on his shoulders. "Long time no see, kid!"

Everyone seemed to freeze for a moment. "…Talking weasel." Haruna finally remarked, in a curiously blank voice. "A talking weasel. I should've expected that."

The ermine glanced around fitfully. "Hey kid, they know about magic, right? Didn't blow your cover or anything?"

Negi let out a long sigh. "No, I already blew it myself. They're the only ones that know, though, so keep shut with everyone else."

By that time Haruna had already taken out her cell phone and started rapidly dialing. "Hey, Yue! Yeah, come back to the dorm quick, you'll want to see this. Mm-hm, it's a Negi thing. See you in a bit." Putting away her phone, she said, "Alright, Negi-kun, where do you want to start with this one?"

Negi really couldn't help but be impressed by how well they were taking all this—reading books apparently does help coping with earth-shattering revelations. "I suppose introductions should be in order, then. Everyone, this is Chamo; for better or for _worse_," sending a side-along glare at him, "he's my familiar."

"Nice to meetcha!"

* * *

Lexicon Negimarum Falsum

Tuned Staff – While nearly all magical mediums: wands, staffs, rings, even mirrors and crystals, are created with the purpose of being able to channel nearly any kind of magic, there exist many other, specialized mediums throughout the magical world. One of these strange artifacts is the tuned staff. At odds with its general-use counterparts, a tuned staff is capable of converting ordinary magic power to elemental power of the highest degree. Bypassing the normal limitations of training to develop an elemental affinity, a tuned staff will allow even the most inexperienced of mages to cast elemental magic of the highest level—at least in theory. In all actuality, it is a slow process that turns a user's magic into elemental energy, which must then be stored in the staff itself to await use. Certainly it allows a mage to cast magic well above their normal capabilities, but that magic can be cast once a day, at most.

_Cadere_ – "Fall" – The most self-evident force of the universe: gravity. Though not the strongest or most intricate of the forces, it is nonetheless a class of spell not to be taken lightly. It was not until the works of Kepler and Galileo became well-known throughout the worlds that gravity magic began to appear in ancient texts and obscure academic courses—magic is, after all, a means of circumventing natural laws as they are conceptualized at the time. A base understanding of what a spell manipulates is therefore necessary for its creation, since it would be impossible to change what one cannot even comprehend.

* * *

**A/N:** Well, this'll be the last of the 5-day updates. Classes are starting to pick up, so it'll roll back to around ~7-10 days. That, and chapters seem to get longer with each I post up.

So, there we have our first action scene! It's about time! Good, bad, needs improvement, etc. I'm interested in hearing what you thought of it! Now, I've got the _general_ pace for this arc set, and on what to do for the chapters to follow. That's all for now, until next update!


	5. Chapter 5

**Going Rogue**

**Chapter 5**

* * *

To see a disclaimer, please visit chapter 4.

* * *

The three girls, wizard, and ermine had just finished their round of introductions when the door to their room opened, revealing an out of breath Yue. "Got here as quick as I could." She said, panting, "What's the story?"

"And that's Yue over there." Negi remarked, as if to no one in particular.

"Um, sensei?" the girl asked, "I'm pretty sure everyone here knows who I am."

She jumped when a far deeper voice spoke up. "Almost everyone."

Turning towards the source of voice, she saw Negi pointing towards the little weasel on his shoulder. "Wow, this _is_ Negi-related."

"How do you do?" It responded brightly, "The name's Albert Chamomile, or 'Chamo' for short!"

"Nice to meet you." She said, bowing slightly. "As sensei said, I am Ayase Yue. Are there a lot of talking ermines in the world?"

"Not at all," he replied, producing a cigarette which was quickly snatched by a frowning Negi. "There's not too many of us in the worlds. That was one of the errands I ran over the months—seeing if I could find some more of my kind."

"Did you?" Negi asked curiously; it was always interesting to see what his familiar was up to between his visits.

"No, not this time." The ermine said, shaking his head. "They're probably very well hidden—I know I would be, if it weren't for my status as a familiar."

The little weasel noticed three sets of eyes looking at him with tearing eyes. "That's so sad, Chamo-kun!" Haruna finally blurted out, "Travelling the world looking for your people, alone in the world… this'll make such a great addition to my story!"

Chamo laughed off her words, "It's not so bad Nee-san, not like that was the only thing I was doing in Magicus. I take it you girls know about my little master's 'jobs?'"

Nodoka nodded, "It's still kind of difficult to believe Negi-sensei's a… black market trader, I guess."

He chuckled, "That's about the gist of it—though really, we're small fry compared to the big suppliers and distributers out there."

"Hey!" Negi said, "We're not _that_ small fry; I make enough to pile away and expand my collections."

Chamo snorted. "Kid, there's a lot more to the underground than what you can get with a MagiNet connection. Take a trip to Magicus, and then we'll talk."

"Ugh, you know I can't leave until I finish my journeyman assignment, Chamo."

Yue spoke up, interrupting what seemed to be very-practiced byplay. "Chamo-san, you said you were Negi-sensei's familiar?"

"Yep," the ermine said, patting his chest proudly, "And someday I'm sure that'll mean something pretty big. I'm the one who showed him Inscription in the first place, after all!"

Negi felt a strong sense of doom arising when Haruna perked up at this statement. "So that means you know how to make pactio circles too?"

Chamo smirked lasciviously, "Ooh, so he's already told you about _those_, has he?" He turned to Negi, giving him an ineffective elbow to the head. "I didn't know you had it in you, kid! Which one's your partner?"

Blushes all around filled the room. "C-Chamo! I'm a teacher here, I'd be fired if that happened!"

"Eh, it's your journeyman test too, I'm sure the higher-ups would let it slide." The ermine said, completely unconcerned.

"Not the point…" He muttered under his breath. Partners were one thing Negi planned to put off for as long as he could—at the very least when he was actually a legal adult in magical law. There would be a lot less complications, he figured.

"Um…" Nodoka said, "wouldn't it be a good idea to ask Chamo-san about how to defeat Evangeline-san, now?"

"Who's this 'Evangeline?'" the ermine said, "Made some enemies already, kid?"

"She's a trouble student in my class, to put it lightly." He replied.

As he heard Chamo begin to make plans of revenge for anyone who was making trouble for his master, he added, "Oh, she's also a daylight walker with at least magister-level magical powers. And she apparently has a grudge against my father, which I've inherited."

He felt the scheming weasel freeze on his shoulder. "…Wow. When you make enemies, you really go and make enemies, don't you?"

He nodded, not really liking the situation he was in as he spelled it out so bluntly. "She nearly overpowered me when we first fought, and I would've lost if not for an escape tag. I'll be better prepared next time, but so will she. Probably the only good thing about it is that her powers are bound with the moon cycle; there's around a week and a half before she'll be at full power again."

Chamo nodded slowly, taking all the information in. "I see, looks like I couldn't have arrived at a better time—you'll need all the time you can get to prepare. What did you say the girl's name was, again?"

"Evangeline McDowell."

The ermine scratched his chin in thought. "McDowell… McDowell… Where've I heard that before?"

"I had the same reaction too Chamo—we must have come across the name on the Net somewhere."

"Huh… wait." He paused, a nervous look somehow visible on his musteline features. "She didn't happen to be an ice-user, did she? Blonde, European features?"

"…Yes?" Negi said, not liking whatever was making Chamo so nervous.

"Then you've got a bit of a problem, since you're going to be going toe-to-toe with the Dark Evangel."

Negi finally placed where he heard his student's name before—on a 'most wanted' form for the most dangerous Magical World criminals. "Oh god…" He squeaked out, falling back in his seat, almost squashing his familiar. "So the Maga Nosferatu's out for my blood. Ha ha… ha…" He laughed rather incoherently for a moment afterwards, which was only adding to the three girl's growing unease.

"Is Evangeline-san a famous person in the Magical World?" Nodoka quietly asked.

Negi looked up at them, saying, "Remember when we were talking about super-mages? The kind where people have to redraw the maps of where they fight? Evangeline's one of those. And not the good kind, either."

"Ah."

A beat later, Yue pointed out, "Weren't you holding your own against pretty well against her, though?"

"You know… that's sort of true. Even during the full moon, she barely had any power of her own to use; she was relying almost exclusively on potions and reagents to bolster her power."

Chamo scratched his chin contemplatively. "I don't know, kid, you don't get a six million drachma bounty on you without having a few tricks up your sleeve. Other than the potions, was she using any magical artifacts or constructs—golems or dolls and such?"

Negi shook his head with dismay. "I forgot; she's also called 'The Dollmaster,' isn't she?"

The weasel nodded in return.

"I guess that's one edge we have on her—she's so infamous, a lot of her major techniques are pretty well known."

"What do you know about her then, Negi-sensei, if she's that infamous in your world?" Yue asked.

"Well…" he said, taking a moment to think. "Her affinities are believed to be ice and darkness, given the nature of the landscape after bounty hunter fights—though as I recall, her bounty's been recalled for a decade or so. Actually, that would probably match up right around when she said she was cursed to stay here. She can also create and animate magical dolls, and besides that has all the advantages of a highest-caliber vampire."

"So in other words, she's the final boss of the game!" Haruna said.

Negi shrugged. "She's definitely up there, but I don't know about _final_ boss. My father did beat her over a decade ago, after all. And thinking about it from another angle, she can't really use her strongest spells because she wants my blood, and she needs my living blood to break the curse Father put on her."

"Sounds like you've already got a plan figured out there, kid." Chamo commented.

"Maybe not a full plan, but I have an idea of what to do for the next week or so. Takamichi's out of the country right now so he's a no-go, and something tells me that if the headmaster's been letting her live here for fifteen years with no problem, he's not going to be much help. Still, I'll schedule a meeting with him as soon as I can—if anything, it'll be good to know exactly _why_ he's letting an evil mage room on campus."

* * *

"…What a pleasant coincidence, Evangeline-san."

"Oh? Let me guess, you want to complain to the big ol' headmaster about a mean vampire that's been bothering you? Not the bravest thing I've seen in my years, boy." The small-statured girl had just come out of the door he was about to enter; now she was casually blocking the way to the headmaster's office with her arms crossed and an amused grin on her face.

Negi subtly rubbed his ring with his thumb, not rising to her bait. "Forgive me if I don't want to go a second round with the Dark Evangel without all the help I can get—even if it wasn't particularly difficult last time."

Her lips curled a touch more, in a thankfully fang-less smirk. "So the boy's got a bit of a spine after all! I'm sure you're going to give me a _lot_ of fun next Friday, so here's a little hint: I'd start looking for a partner, if I were you. I wouldn't want to ruin any surprises… but as you probably know by my fantastically infamous reputation, I don't _need_ to fight you alone." She turned around with a flair, stalking off down the corridor with a cackle. "And don't think about asking Takahata or the headmaster for help, either! Unless you want the 'Vampire of Mahora' to strike some poor, hapless students again! Yours in particular look like they have some tasty blood…"

With that declaration, she turned the corner, laughter echoing down the hall. There was never a greater time that Negi wished the scroll had chosen anything, _anything_ other than a teacher. Hell, he would've been fine with being a magical garbage man at this point. He was pretty sure whatever "problem students" the other teachers had to deal with weren't literally out for their blood. He really needed to blow off some stress before it got too much for him—and since he couldn't afford to talk to the headmaster now, he had an opening in his schedule.

Looking around the fourth-story hallway and finding it suitably deserted, he quickly murmured a concealment spell, before unlocking the nearest window. Now that he thought about it, it had been quite a while since he had gone flying; the first time he'd really used his staff since coming here was when he was chasing after Evangeline. Luckily he had his camouflage well enough mastered that even his now-raging paranoia wasn't objecting to a mid-day flight. He took a last regretful look at the door to the headmaster's office, hoping he wouldn't have needed any help when the new moon came around.

A quick hop, a bit of basic magic to lock the window behind him, and he was a transparent blur across the sky. Dipping and turning through the boundless air, Negi could feel the wind calling to him, to the element of his being. Being a wind-affinity was so _fantastic!_

After several more minutes of aerial acrobatics that would have left stunt pilots in tears, he relaxed, slowly ascending in wide, lazy circles on the updrafts. While absently manipulating miniature whorls and eddies of wind with his free hand, Negi decided to practice with one of his favorite wind affinity exercises. He always called it "count the birds," never having changed the name since when he first thought of it in Wales.

Slowly coasting to a stop, he closed his eyes in concentration as he slowly focused on his barriers, letting the wind protections around him melt away, free to be carried away by the currents. It was the nearly completed version of his dubbed "wind radar," though at the moment it wasn't very practical outside of refining his elemental focus.

His barrier strands were carried away by the wind in all directions, an expanding web of threads weaving through the open air. "Two… and three more behind and below…" he murmured, drifting aimlessly on his staff. "Oh, and another just to my right, and… what _is_ that?"

He frowned, opening his eyes and glancing upwards, a white expanse of low-hanging cloud obscuring his view. That thing was bigger than any bird he'd seen before—wingspan easily as wide as an albatross, but with so much more bulk… was there anything even relatively normal about this academy?

Recalling what happened last time he tried to fight an airborne enemy, Negi began to recall the scattered wisps of his barrier from the air, keeping a tracker in the "bird's" area. Another minute later, and his wind protection was in working order again. Opting for a cautious approach, Negi sped ahead of the still hidden and presumably unaware target, before slowly rising up through the clouds.

With his reformed wind barrier keeping the condensation off of him, he poked his head through the last of the cloud cover. For a moment, he stared blankly at the sight in front of him. He recognized one of his own students, wearing some type of shrine maiden getup, flying through the air just feet in front of him. On enormous white wings. Negi wasn't quite sure how to begin this conversation.

A nearby bird had the curious experience of seeing what looked like little more than a disembodied human head zipping along through the sky followed by another, complete human that looked to have quite a bit of bird blood. A second passed. Negi realized that if he had to endure any more of this silence he would likely explode, and slowly descended into the obscuring mist, obscuring their view.

Now dropping just below the cloud-line again, he took a moment to make sure he wasn't about to have a screaming fit. Was there a _single_ normal student in his class?

That may have been a slight exaggeration, he realized, thinking of his librarian friends. Though he supposed he really couldn't consider them "normal" anymore, exactly. And now that he was done delaying the inevitable, he supposed he'd have to back up there again, if only to make sure she was sure about what she was doing. After all, what kind of teacher would he be if he just let his students fly about without proper supervision?

He rose up again, now next to the surprisingly calm girl. "So, Sakurazaki-san… good afternoon?" Was this proper protocol for aerial conversation? Aside from her answers during class, he had never really spoken with her.

"Good afternoon, Negi-sensei." She responded with surprising calmness. "I did not know you were a mage."

"And I hardly knew you had wings, either!" He said. "Are those natural? I can't say I've ever heard of a race with white wings like that."

She gave a small wince. "These wings… were not meant to be white. If it's all the same, I'd rather not talk about it."

Negi nodded solemnly. Especially when it came to mages, you knew better than to pry into secrets—it rarely ended pretty. He adjusted his course, flying slightly below her to give her wings more room. "If you don't mind me asking this, then: exactly who else in the class knows about magic? It was shock enough with Evangeline-san and Tatsumiya-san, but this is getting a bit ridiculous."

The winged girl frowned. "Tatsumiya-san yes, but McDowell-san? I wasn't aware she was a mage. As far as I know, we should be the only ones in your class aware of magic… although I admit some of them seem a bit suspect."

Negi blinked. "You didn't know? She's not just a mage; she's a vampire, too. A very… troublesome vampire."

Setsuna seemed to realize something, arcing in a wide circle around the edges of the academy. "Wait, those incidents of 'vampire attacks' were…"

"Yes, that was her." He said, nodding, "I'm going to have to have to fight with her in less than a week now, or she'll start to attack my students—and she'll do the same if I try to go to Takamichi for help."

The white winged girl frowned as she spread her wings out, coasting on an upward draft. "That _is_ quite the problem. I don't suppose you've asked Tatsumiya-san for help?"

Negi harrumphed, "Apparently it'll take 'more gold than I could make in my life' before she would even consider taking on Evangeline."

"That does sound like something she'd say, always the economical one."

"Do you two know each other then?" He asked, curious.

The girl nodded, coasting off side to the edge of campus and prompting Negi to follow. "The headmaster hires her for small exorcisms and exterminations fairly often—whatever slips by the academy barrier when the teachers are busy. Since my job is mostly the same, we found an alliance of sorts convenient."

Negi made an appreciative noise; he'd been wondering why someone of Mana's caliber had been hanging around a peaceful place like Mahora. "Ah, so where are we going Sakurazaki-san?"

She pointed in front of her towards the approaching forest, "A few minutes in there's a clearing I made for when I practice my swordsmanship. If Evangeline-san is a vampire that managed to mask herself entirely from my senses, there's no doubt she'll be a tough opponent. You'll need all the help you can get to beat her."

"Really? Thank you, Sakurazaki-san!" Negi exclaimed, overjoyed. "Finally I found someone that can help me!"

"It's no problem, Negi-sensei," she said, giving a small grin, "I have reasons of my own for why I'd want class 3-A to be free from danger. Now, the only offensive art I could teach you is swordplay, and a week of training wouldn't even be enough to make you competent, much less a threat to her. So… I was thinking something more along the lines of 'survival instincts.'"

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, finally able to spot the clearing she mentioned.

"This," She said, appearing like a blur in front of the surprised teacher and swinging down the wrapped bundle she carried on her back straight at him. With his hands on his broom, he barely had enough time to gasp before it impacted, shattering his barrier and sending him careening down to the open field.

He flicked his hand outward as he tumbled, wrapping himself in a stabilizing wind as he fell at a more sedate pace to the ground—but, before he could catch his bearings he saw a flurry of white and red movement out of the corner of his eye and knew he needed to move _now_.

He sent the wind slowing his fall in a downward gust, pulling him down just below the winged blur racing overhead. He repositioned his broom with one hand, keeping the other free as he pulled up out of his fall and regained his balance, seeing his student coming at him from his other side now.

"_Flans Paries Aerialis!_" He screamed with an outstretched palm just a moment before she was upon him, her now-unwrapped—but thankfully still sheathed—blade stopped just inches from him.

"Three attacks to form a decent defense…" the swordswoman noted, pausing in her assault, "not the best I've seen by a long shot, but you did get something out the first try, so good job!"

"What-" Negi said, panting slightly from sudden exertion, "-was that?"

"A sneak attack." Setsuna said matter-of-factly. "Let's go back to ground, I've been flying for a while today." As they descended, she continued. "If your opponent is a vampire that has attacked innocents, you can't expect a straightforward fight. Sneak attacks, attacks from behind… you need to be ready for any of that. So what I can teach you in the time we have is how to survive fighting against an enemy faster than you."

Negi grinned, "Sounds good."

* * *

Chamo was _bored_.

Negi had gone off to talk to the old coot, leaving him with unfortunately specific instructions to stay in his room and _absolutely not_ try to go to the bath again, putting a little power into the familiar bond to demonstrate how serious he was. Honestly, it's not like anyone cried over a little lost underwear.

The little weasel was making headway in his fifth self-guided tour of Negi's room when he heard a knock at the door. It only took a moment to decide any kind of company would be welcome, particularly if they were middle-schoolers that loved to pet furry adorable pets! In another moment, he raced to the door and jumped onto the handle, pulling the chain free with his tail, jumping from there to Negi's bed.

Several seconds later the door hesitatingly opened, the face of Haruna Saotome peeking inside. "Hello? Anybody home?"

"Over here Nee-san!" The small creature waved from atop the bed. "Where's the rest of the book lovers?"

"Just me today!" She said brightly, slipping off her shoes. "Not like any of the others know I'm here, after all."

"Ooh, you a sneaky one, Nee-san? You did seem _awfully _interested in those pactios" Chamo said, giving the girl an appraising look.

Haruna giggled in response. "Well, what can I say? Get an awesome power up and a super magical item just from a kiss? That's so cool it's practically illegal to keep it from me—er, us!"

"I like the way you think!" Chamo exclaimed, hopping down from the bed to Haruna's shoulder. "And you know what, I'd like the kid to have a partner or three too! Absolutely terrible at asking people to do things for him, always running off on his own making trades; got on my nerves, I tell you. Especially with the full moon and Evangeline's challenge coming in just six days, he needs more help that he'll admit."

Haruna hummed slowly, resting a hand on her chin. "So Negi's one of those character's that tries to do everything by himself? And then we're gonna be the ones to save him dramatically at the last possible moment and show him the true power of friendship and pactios?"

Chamo let out a deep laugh at that. "That you are, that you are. Forgot you kids probably read that stuff all the time; that's pretty much the situation I'd like to avoid. They usually don't go so well in real life."

"So what can I do 'avoid this situation?'" Haruna asked, sporting a grin that was matched by Chamo.

"You know, I already had thought of a few ideas the moment I heard the kid was going to stay at an all-girl's school, but since you three already know about magic—I think some plans can be adjusted…"

* * *

Negi was feeling something awfully foreboding as he flew slowly back towards the academy. The feeling was a bit difficult to distinguish from the myriad aches he had picked up over the course of two hours of "dodging practice," as Setsuna called it.

He mentally labeled it as the "Oh god where'd she g—OW OW oh that's where" game, one that she recommended they only play for those two hours at most, which he quite happily agreed to. Any longer, and Evangeline would have to drain his blood from a puddle on the floor. So it was with a wary and weary heart that he finally touched down on the roof of the dorm building, painfully aware that he left his conspiring ermine alone in a room full of magical artifacts and a MagiNet connection for the better part of the day.

Turning the door handle he silently prayed the room was still explosion-free, and more importantly that he wouldn't find any mysterious charges to his MagiNet account.

It was nearly a shock when he found the room… perfectly untouched. Books organized; laptop still charging and unopened; his inscription kit might actually have been a little cleaner than when he left it.

Definitely not a good sign.

He saw the telltale swish of his familiar's tail on top of his pillow, and knew he had to find out what was going on before the little weasel's schemes grew to ridiculous proportions.

"Hey, Chamo, what've you been doing all day?" He asked, poking the white tail with the end of his staff.

"Mm?" The ermine said, stretching his paws out. "Sleeping, mainly. Not much else to do, since it turned out to be a pain to try and guess your MagiNet password. Hope you don't mind I ate all your snacks by the way, since, you know, 'don't leave the room or I'll turn you into a pair of slippers' and all."

Negi's eye twitched. Dammit, he brought those crisps from halfway round the world! "I'll be sure to leave out some pet food next time you feel like sticking to the letter of the law. Anything else I should be worried about?"

"Not really. Konoka came in once or twice, I wasn't really paying attention. But I didn't talk to anyone I wasn't supposed to, honest!"

"It's all right, Chamo, I believe you." Negi said tiredly, "It's just been a long day since I actually found someone to help me out against Evangeline."

"Nice, kid!" Chamo said, "The headmaster finally give you some backup against that crazy vamp?"

"Actually, no. She caught me before I could get to him and told me bringing in any of the teachers would be… detrimental to my students' health. Surprisingly enough, it's one of my students that's helping: Setsuna Sakurazaki."

Chamo perked up at that. "Another one in your class knows about us? That's a surprise. How's she helping?"

Negi smirked at that. "They're not the only ones, either. Remember that one buyer that was always haranguing me about discounts? Bought a bunch, but super stingy? Turns out she's in my class, too."

"What?! But she's been buying from you for what now, three years? There's no way she's actually a middle schooler!"

Negi shrugged, "That's what I thought, but everyone acts like she's been there for at least a year or two. I'm not too sure what to make of her, but she did say that hiring her to fight Evangeline was way out of my price range."

The weasel snorted, "Well, ain't that a surprise."

"Anyway, Sakurazaki-san is shoring up my weak points as best she can considering the time frame we're working with. Mainly aerial agility and being able to dodge whatever hits I can't afford to shield against."

"I'll leave you to it, then. Just let me on the laptop, will you? It's been ages since I've been able to go on the net!"

Sighing good-naturedly, he set the computer up on his bed and showed his familiar the password. "Where's yours? I never see you without the thing."

"Had to ship it back from Magicus." The ermine said absently, already typing away with his little paws. "Couldn't have anything on my person when I sneaked the border, and the last time I tried to seal away a laptop it came out melting and on fire. Along with all the other stuff I had in it," he added, grimacing at the memory. "It should come in the next week or so."

"Ah. I'll leave you too it, then." He said, tapping a series of spellbooks on his desk, grabbing them as they shrank to the size of matchbooks and leaving Chamo to his own devices. He'll probably get off when he gets hungry again.

He finally decided to get some of his work done in Library Island—less chance of any mundanes stumbling across his work in the basement. He had to get some of his own preparations done before the school week started, after all.

Coming to a stop in what appeared to be a passable work room in level 2—if one ignored the floor made of books, that is—Negi quickly sketched out a small standard ward that would compel away anyone unaware of the magical world.

With another wave of his wand and a murmured incantation, a plain wooden chair and desk sprung into existence, shortly followed by a small floating ball of flame. Conjuration was hardly his specialty, but he knew enough about the subject to make them last for the few hours he'd be there.

With all the time he'd spent between grading papers and filling out his clients' orders, he hadn't much time to do some good old theory and research lately. While the most cursory of readings told him he wouldn't be getting an easy win by waving some crosses and garlic around, he did find a reference to her infamous magical constructs. After all, if the Dollmaster was going to be so kind as to tell him what she was bringing to their fight, he couldn't help it if he made his own preparations, could he?

Now, settling himself in his chair and adjusting the intensity of his makeshift lamp, the little professor tucked himself in for a long, nostalgiac night of research.

* * *

Negi found it strangely easy to slip back into his newly-acquired routines, even while the threat of mortal danger hung ever-closer. Evangeline had resumed her habit of skipping classes, which at least left one less thing for him to worry about between teaching the class, surviving Setsuna's hellish training, and his own research. If he let himself believe enough, sometimes it was almost like he was just an average English teacher in middle school! A class that seemed somewhat more antsy than usual, but a group of refreshingly normal nonetheless. As he finished class 3-A's lessons for the day, he realized only a moment too late what the cruel, cruel world would do after a statement like that.

The distant sense of dread that he'd been attributing to his coming fight with his student came to a terrifying crescendo when, the moment before the dismissal bell rung, Haruna casually stood up and declared, "As everyone I'm sure knows by now, and please do follow the rules we posted, the contest of 'Pin the Tail on the Negi' begins… NOW!" And with the ringing of the bell, all hell broke loose.

The first thing Negi saw was a piece of paper being flung straight at his head, weighted down by a smooth pebble. He allowed his knees to buckle momentarily, letting the small scrap of copy paper smack against the blackboard as he caught himself on his desk. He was about to ask just what the heck his students were doing, when he noticed a design on the paper, crudely etched out in blue ink. The concentric circles with glyphs arranged along their border, in that peculiar order every magus past puberty knows by heart…

A pactio circle, but how on earth would-

His thoughts were cut short with the slap of another, less accurately thrown slip of paper slapping against the wall, this one weighed down around its edges by paperclips. He spinned around, seeing the majority of the class grinning mischievously and armed to the teeth with hundreds of pactio charms. Somewhere deep in Negi's mind, a voice said, "Run." Negi ran very quickly indeed.

He burst through the classroom door and slammed it shut behind him, hearing a steady thunk of paper charms of all sizes and materials impact it behind him. As he breathed a sigh of release, he flinched when he heard the click of a window unlocking. Dropping into a dead sprint down the hallway,he only spared enough of a glance behind him to avoid a charm shot from a rubber band by a girl with a black side-tail.

He turned the corner as quickly as he could, as the noise level around him spiked as girls everywhere started coming out into the hallway. He quickly realized what a dangerous spot he was in when he jerked his foot out of the way of a Narutaki twin about to slap a charm on his ankle. He ignored her disappointed whine as he took off again, trying to put as much distance as he could between him and his classroom while the halls were still empty.

Still somehow his students managed to get ahead of him, as evidenced by the numerous they sprung on him from stairwells and the windows of empty classrooms. With every near miss or swat with his staff, he raced even more frantically down the hall. He knew enough about the pactio ritual that if he was tagged with one of those circles he'd barely have the coherency to walk, let alone avoid his students—whom he was reminded quite forcibly that they were nowhere near normal when a pigtailed girl—Hakase—pulled out some kind gun behind him and launched a rapid fire stream of tags straight at him. It was only his quick removal and subsequent tossing of his jacket to intercept the paper projectiles that kept him from losing this insane "contest" that he was entirely sure Chamo was the source of. Apparently he had underestimated the lengths to which he'd go to try and find a partner for him.

Ducking underneath another set of tags aimed at him, he was never more grateful for his student as when he saw Nodoka just down the hallway at the door to the in-campus library. "Quick sensei, they won't find you in here!" He didn't even need to take a moment to consider it before he bodily flung himself through the doors, which were quickly shut behind him.

Eyes still darting around as if he was expecting one of his students to pop out from the shelves, he realized something, "Wait, why wouldn't they find me in the library?"

"A-ahh, sometimes I wonder if most of the class even knows where this library is." Nodoka admitted with a sigh.

"Right you are, Nodo-chan!" A new voice spoke up. Turning around, Negi saw a smug-faced Haruna standing atop the shelf next to them, earning some muttering from the other students in the library. "If the main library didn't have its own island, I doubt they'd know where that was, either. Guess it's just us now, Negi-kun!" Negi was quickly questioning the wisdom of his decision when her eyes took on a distinctly predatory glint.

"N-now Haruna-san," Negi said, backing up slowly, "I know you think pactios are the coolest thing since sliced bread, but you really should think—"

"No excuses, Negi-kun!" Haruna shrieked, "I'm getting my super cool magic item one way or another!" Before he could react to her proclamation, she pulled a rope behind her, sending a box tumbling down over Negi's head, spilling pactio charms as it went. Resisting the urge to blast the charms out of the sky with other mundanes in the library, he twirled his staff point upwards, using just enough power to redirect the slips of paper away from him in a conic dispersal. His vision soon became filled with the seemingly-innocuous slips, and the muttering from the other students in the library gave way to open confusion. Nodoka's voice in particular was demanding to know what Haruna was doing.

It was only when he saw a hand dart through his impromptu screen, pactio charm in hand, that he realized obscuring his vision might not have been the best thing to do. He tried to twist out of the way, but found himself quickly blocked by the falling charms, just now beginning to thin out. The flash of light that emanated around them when the charm finally connected with his chest was quickly followed by the leering smile of his student, giving him a wink before swooping down and capturing his lips with her own.

A rush of power flowed through him as he completed their kiss, disorienting him as Haruna drew back, her eyes distant. At least, until she spied something above his field of vision, which she quickly snatched with a cackle.

"Yes! I knew it was going to be a book—oh wait, a sketchbook? Even better!" Cackling madly to herself, she dashed off through the library, touting her newly acquired artifact, snatching a protesting Nodoka along the way.

It looked like it really was becoming one of _those_ kinds of days.

"I swear, Chamo," he muttered, "you are so dead when I find you."

"Hey, c'mon kid, it's not too bad, is it-urgh!"

Hearing the all-too familiar voice, Negi acted more or less on instinct and snatched the little ermine in a tight grip before stalking out of the library himself. Seeing the hallway cleared of people, he once again decided to take the most direct way out of the school: the window.

Luckily for Chamo's nerves, the library was located on the ground floor of campus; so, instead of being dangled off the edge of Negi's broom like he had planned, he was instead just suspended in the air under a bubble of wind.

"Chamo." Negi began, "Albert, _come on._ Why do you have to be so stubborn on things like this? These girls, my students, they're just normal people! You can't get them involved with our world; bad enough that those three already know, if any more people find out about us I'm going to get exiled!"

Chamo was beginning to feel a bit loopy from being held upside-down, but managed to respond, "Hey kid, I had the entire thing under control. All those charms those girls were throwing at you? Very close to being accurate pactio charms, but completely non-functional. Besides, it wasn't even my idea this time—that girl really wanted a pactio, I decided to help her out a bit."

"Wait… you're telling me those were all fakes? All of them?"

Chamo nodded, "All except the one Nee-san had, of course. Like it or not, kid, I'm looking out for you—you've been preparing for Evangeline tomorrow, and this is just me doing the same."

Negi sighed, but much more relieved now that he knew there wasn't any serious danger from his familiar's 'preparations.' "Chamo, I just don't want to get them involved more than they already are—it's bad enough that I had to use Nodoka as bait for her, there's no way I, as a magus, can let them anywhere a serious fight between us!"

"But they're not just 'mundanes' anymore, are they?" Chamo interjected, "You know how it is: once you're involved, there's no backing out. Magic attracts magic, and all that. So you want to protect them, I get that! But if you lose because you didn't let them help you, you're not going to protect anyone as a bloodless husk!"

After a long pause, Negi said, "Always the tactician, aren't you? Alright, go find Saotome and figure out what her artifact does—let's hope she hasn't blown anything up yet. I'm going to meet with Sakurazaki-san, she said we'd have one last training session before tomorrow."

Released from the constraining air, the little weasel twisted through the air to land nimbly on his feet. "Knew you'd see it my way, Negi!"

The child teacher snorted, "Please Chamo, if you think I'm forgetting this little stunt anytime soon you've got another thing coming to you."

"Heh heh, well…" He said, backing away slowly, "Good thing I have such a forgiving master!" he said, scampering off into the bushes.

Negi just shook his head at his retreating familiar. "Just one more day…" he muttered, clenching his staff tightly. "I'll be ready for you, Evangeline."

* * *

Lexicon Negimarum Falsum

Pactio Charms – The bond between a master and his attendants, the pactio may not be one of the oldest rituals of bonding known to mages, but it is without a doubt the most ubiquitous within magical culture. This famous contract, signed with a kiss (among other possibilities), requires the assistance of a creature to act as an envoy to the spirits which govern the pactio system. The most prominent race to have this capability are the Sidhe and their kind, though there are other lesser-known races which communicate with the pactio spirits.

However, pactio-capable creatures may not always be present for when a pactio needs to be formed. In those cases pactio charms, which in themselves can only be created with the assistance of one such aforementioned being, were the solution to pactio demand. Though the rise of standardized "pactio brokers" with commemorative photos and reasonable prices have largely displaced the demand for pactio charms, they are a well-remembered part of the history of "pactio."

* * *

**A/N: **What's this? Meterion has updated? It must be a Christmas miracle! Really, this story isn't dead. Promise.

These next chapters… I'm not going to pretend and set a date for them, but know that I will at least be working on them. Now that college (which, I'll freely admit, was a big cause of why this took so long to write) is winding down for the semester, and that I actually have a first-hand idea of what kind of time it consumes, there will be _relatively_ more frequent updates.

So don't despair! There will be more Going Rogue yet! Faves and reviews do wonders for guilting me into writing faster! Meterion—away!


End file.
